An analysis of deformation, temperature, and microstructure for hot extruded titanium alloy

Abstract

During hot extrusion, the microstructure and resultant mechanical properties of materials are subjected to considerable change due to adiabatic local heat generation. In this work, strain, temperature distributions, and microstructural changes resulting from the hot extrusion of Ti-6A1-4V alloy were studied using visioplasticity methods, thermal calculations, and optical microscopy. The results were correlated to the microstructural behavior during hot deformation. Billets 62 mm in diameter were heated to either 950 °C(α + β region) or 1100 °C(β region) and extruded at the extrusion ratios of either 6 or 12. Visioplasticity calculations show that, in the deformation zone, strain is relatively high at the surface of the billet and gradually decreases with depth. Estimated strains of a bar extruded at 950 °C with the extrusion ratio of 12 are 3.5 at the surface and 2.5 at the center, respectively. But the estimated temperature at the surface is lower than that at the center. As a result, microstructures of the bar were bi-modal structure at the surface and acicular transformed structure at the center. A bar extruded at 950 °C with an extrusion ratio of 6 had all bi-modal microstructure. The strain distributions of bar extruded at 1100 °C were similar in nature to those at 950 °C.