High-Temperature (1023 K to 1273 K [750 °C to 1000 °C]) Plastic Deformation Behavior of B-Modified Ti-6Al-4V Alloys: Temperature and Strain Rate Effects

A minor addition of B to the Ti-6Al-4V alloy, by ~0.1 wt pct, reduces its as-cast prior β grain size by an order of magnitude, whereas higher B content leads to the presence of in situ formed TiB needles in significant amounts. An experimental investigation into the role played by these microstructural modifications on the high-temperature deformation behavior of Ti-6Al-4V-xB alloys, with x varying between 0 wt pct and 0.55 wt pct, was conducted. Uniaxial compression tests were performed in the temperature range of 1023 K to 1273 K (750 °C to 1000 °C) and in the strain rate range of 10^–3 to 10⁺¹ s^–1. True stress–true strain responses of all alloys exhibit flow softening at lower strain rates and oscillations at higher strain rates. The flow softening is aided by the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization through lath globularization in high temperature (1173 K to 1273 K [900 °C to 1000 °C]) and a lower strain rate (10^–2 to 10^–3 s^–1) regime. The grain size refinement with the B addition to Ti64, despite being marked, had no significant effect on this. Oscillations in the flow curve at a higher strain rate (10⁰ to 10⁺¹ s^–1), however, are associated with microstructural instabilities such as bending of laths, breaking of lath boundaries, generation of cavities, and breakage of TiB needles. The presence of TiB needles affected the instability regime. Microstructural evidence suggests that the matrix cavitation is aided by the easy fracture of TiB needles.