Microstructure, Tensile Deformation,

and Fracture in Aged Ti 10V-2Fe-3AI

G.T. TERLINDE, T.W. DUERIG, and J. C. WILLIAMS

In the /3-Ti alloy Ti-10V-2Fe-3A1 a variety of a- and oJ-aged microstructures with different yield
stresses was established by combinations of forging and heat treatment. Tensile tests have shown that
plastic deformation and fracture are strongly influenced by the morphology, size, and volume fraction
of the different types of a-phase (primary a , secondary a, grain boundary a), as well as by the
o~-phase. A detailed microscopical study revealed several deformation and fracture modes. It appears
that at several sites stress and strain concentrations and subsequent void nucleation can occur and that
the quantitative combinations of the different a-types determine which sites are active. The dominant
deformation mode for the (a + /3) solution treated and a-aged conditions was a strain localization
in the a-aged matrix leading to voids at the interface between aged matrix and primary a-phase. In
case of the 13-solution treated and a-aged microstructures the grain boundary a leads to a strain
localization in the soft a-film and to void nucleation at grain boundary triple points at low macroscopic
strains. Based on the above mechanisms it is discussed in detail how varying size, volume fraction,
and morphology of the a-phase affect the ductility. The embrittling effect of w-particles can be largely
reduced by a grain refinement.

I. INTRODUCTION tematically varied over a wide range. This has been done by
using combinations of forging and heat treatment.
M E T A S T A B L E /3-Ti-alloys are becoming increasingly The study described here will concentrate on the follow-
attractive for commercial use in high strength structural ing subjects: (1) the tensile properties, especially the duc-
components. Compared to the older a + /3 alloys,/3-alloys tility, as a function of yield stress and microstructure; (2) the
exhibit higher strength to density values and good strength- microscopic deformation (slip mode) and fracture mech-
toughness combinations. ~-13Moreover, these properties can anisms; (3) the correlation between the microstructures and
be developed in thick sections. Beside these advantages,
mechanical properties.
however, several studies have shown a considerable scatter For this study a relatively new /3-Ti, Ti-10V-2Fe-3A1
of ductilities within one structural part or forging. 7-1° These (Ti-10-2-3) was chosen. This alloy has the potential for
problems often arise from inhomogeneities in the micro- extensive commercial use. Earlier studies on this alloy have
structure which are accentuated by a strong sensitivity of the been concerned with the development of chemically homo-
ductility to microstructure. As a result, several studies have geneous material, l0 optimization of the forging conditions,9
been conducted to establish methods for controlling micro- and elucidation of the phase transformation behavior and
structure and for establishing the relationship between mechanical properties. 14 The selection of microstructures
microstructure and properties. In these studies different for this study will be based on results from Reference 14
microstructures were established by varying three factors:
and described later.
alloy composition, forging history, and subsequent heat
treatment. 1-9 Some of the important microstructural param-
eters which can be controlled by combinations of the above
Experimental Methods
factors are the volume fraction, distribution and morphology The majority of the Ti-10-2-3 alloy used in this study was
of the a-phase (e.g., primary a , secondary a , grain bound- supplied by TIMET (heat #P1452) as hot rolled plate. It had
ary a), and it has been shown that they can have pronounced been thermomechanically processed starting in the/3-phase
effects on the mechanical properties. 2-4,9Most of the earlier field with a final a + /3 working operation starting from
studies have included only limited ranges of different micro- 730 °C. The /3-transus was determined as 805 °C +-3 °C.
structures. Thus, a direct comparison between the studies is The alloy contained (by weight) 10.3 pct V, 2.2 pct Fe,
difficult since usually there were differences in alloy com- 3.2 pct A1, 0.15 pct O, 0.009 pct N, 0.016 pct C, and bal-
position, forging, and heat treating conditions, all of which ance Ti. The other material used in this study was taken
contributed to different microstructures and/or strengths. from pancake forgings which were initially worked in the
This may be one of the reasons for some of the apparently /3-field followed by a final upset in the (a + /3) field
conflicting results. (774 °C). The/3-transus of this alloy was slightly lower than
It, therefore, seemed appropriate to initiate a study using that of the plate.
a fixed alloy composition in which the microstructures sys- Good heat treatment practice was employed to avoid
atmospheric contamination. For heat treatments performed
G.T. TERLINDE, Research Scientist, is with GKSS, Max-Planck- above 600 °C, specimens were wrapped in Ta foil and vacu-
Stral3e, D-2054 Geesthacht, Federal Republic of Germany; T.W. um encapsulated. Most of the heat treatments below 600 °C
DUERIG, Research Scientist, is with Raychem Corporation, 300 Consti-
were performed in a neutral liquid nitrate salt bath.
tution Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025; and J.C. WILLIAMS is Dean of
Engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Specimens for optical microscopy were electropolished in
Manuscript submitted June 25, 1982. a solution of 5 pct H2SO4 in methanol at room temperature

METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONSA VOI~UME14A,OCTOBER 1983- - 2101

at a voltage of 21 V. The etchant consisted of equal parts of micrograph in Figure 1 illustrates this structure. Numerous
10 pct oxalic acid and 1 pct HF aqueous solutions. inclusions are also visible in the/3-ST structure. Solution
Thin foils for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) treating in the two phase (a + /3)-field ((a + /3)ST), in
were prepared in a twin jet electropolishing unit with an this case between 700 °C and 780 °C, results in a/3-matrix
electrolyte of 59 pct methanol, 35 pet butanol, and 6 pct containing coarse primary a (otp) particles. The morphology
perchloric acid cooled to - 5 0 °C. A voltage of 12 to 15 V of this primary a is influenced by the forging conditions, it
was used. was equiaxed for the plate forging (lower left micrograph),
For void nucleation studies fractured round tensile speci- and elongated (aspect ratio - 5 ) for the pancake forging
mens were sectioned parallel to the tensile axis to expose the (lower right micrograph). The volume fraction of primary a
center plane, which then was electropolished. The void nu- can be controlled independently of morphology by the solu-
cleation was investigated by SEM. tion treating temperature. Thus, the individual effects of ap
Tensile tests have been performed on electropolished and morphology and volume fraction on the mechanical proper-
etched cylindrical specimens with a diameter of 6.4 mm and ties can be separated. In our studies the ap volume fraction
a 32 mm gage length using an Instron testing machine with changed from 0 vol pct at 805 °C (/3-transus) to about
a clip-on extensometer. The tests were carried out in the 40 vol pct at 700 °C. Furthermore, the (a + /3) ST micro-
L-direction of the plate at a strain rate of 5.5 × 10-4S -1. structures are characterized by pancake-like/3-grains which
The fracture surfaces of the tensile specimens have been contain a fine internal subgrain structure which is stabilized
studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). by the primary a.
The solution treatments were followed by aging at tem-
peratures between 200 °C and 500 °C. Between about
II. RESULTS 200 °C and 450 °C the metastable, coherent to-phase forms
(Figure 2(a)), but it transforms after sufficiently long aging
Microstructure Characterization times to secondary a precipitates (as) (Figure 2(b)). This a
forms as a uniform distribution of very small plates with a
A variety of microstructures has been chosen for this typical length of 1500 ,~ and a thickness of 300 A. Above
investigation based on a recent detailed study on this alloy. 14 400 °C a second type of as-phase forms directly in an auto-
They will be briefly introduced using a schematic phase catalytic manner. It has a much higher aspect ratio than the
diagram of a/3-Ti alloy shown in Figure 1. aforementioned a and is larger in size (Figure 2(c)). The
All heat treatments were performed in two steps and con- conditions for formation of this a morphology include a
sisted of an elevated temperature solution treatment (ST) higher aging temperature and a rapid heating rate, since
followed by a lower temperature aging treatment. Solution heating slowly allows the to to form first and then transform
treating above the/3-transus (/3-ST), e.g., at 850 °C, leads in situ to the fine type of secondary a. This is described
to recrystallized equiaxed/3-phase grains. The upper optical in more detail elsewhere. ~4 During aging, especially at

= B-ST =

0
v

W
:D 805
i- >~ (a +.8) ST
n,,
///~'~'--'700.C_ 780.C "-P
13.

W
I.- a+B

AGING
200"C-500"C

\ =C
Co
/3-STABILIZER CONTENT
Fig. 1 - Schematic phase diagram illustrating the heat treatments and the resulting microstructures. The lower 2 microstructures show the different ap
morphologies in samples containing 10 pct C~p.

2102-- VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983 METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONSA

Fig. 2--Aging products: (a) to-particles, TEM dark field, (b) a-phase formed from w-phase, TEM dark field, (c) a-phase formed autocatalytically, TEM
dark field, and (d) subgrain boundary a phase, TEM bright field.

temperatures above 400 °C, the a-phase also precipitates mation, and fracture behavior. To do this, variations in duc-
at grain boundaries and subgrain boundaries, and it can tility as a function of the yield stress will be presented for
develop into a continuous film (Figure 2(d)). different types of microstructures.
In Figure 3 the yield stress, o'02, is plotted vs the true
fracture strain er or reduction in area RA, respectively, for
three a-aged microstructures and one w-aged condition.
III. TENSILE TESTS The data in this diagram are organized according to micro-
By appropriate combinations of solution treating and structures as defined before. The ap volume fractions chosen
aging it is possible to establish a wide range of yield stresses were 0 pct, 10 pct, and 30 pet; the aging temperatures for
from about 900 MPa (130 ksi) to 1450 MPa (210 ksi) for a-aging were between 350 °C and 500 °C and for w-aging
different types of microstructures. A microstructure type between 200 °C and 260 °C (details in Reference 14). The
is defined here as having a fixed solution treatment or diagram shows the following results:
volume fraction of primary a , whereas the aging condition (1) For a constant ap volume fraction an increase in yield
can change. stress leads to a reduction in ductility. This well-known
The main interest of this study is to find a correlation tendency is emphasized by "trend lines" drawn in Figure 3
between different microstructures and their strength, defor- for each type of microstructure.
METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONSA VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983--2103
 R E D U C T I O N IN A R E A R A ( % ) Table II. Influence of ap-Morphology on
I0 20 40 50 60
I r I I I Tensile Properties for Two Different ao-Volume
1500 220 Fractions at a Constant Yield Stress
, Ti IOV 2Fe 3AI 210 O~p O~s
O0. 2 RA
A 1400 o " ~
Vol Pct Morphology Aging Temp. (MPa) er (Pct)
O- 10 globular 500 °C 1250 0.50 39
ap 10 elongated 500 °C 0.30 26
-
I~ t 3 0 0 \ ' , \ ,,o u) 30 globular 350 °C 1250 0.20 18
CO .V 0 0 (0 30 elongated 370 °C 0.11 11
t.~
rr IflO I(/)
-
I.-
(n 1200 ,..,,
r, 170 the ductility of this w-aged microstructure is almost as good
_w >- as that of the "best" a-aged condition.
>" I I 0 0 160 (5) All the above results were received from micro-
structures with a globular %-morphology. In order to study
O~aA \ N ~ *~ * so the effect of an elongated %-morphology on ductility,
10001 v
microstructures with constant volume fractions of each
%-morphology (10 pct, 30 pct) were aged to produce the
I I I I I
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 O.e I.O same yield stress. The results are shown in Table II. For
TRUE FRACTURE STRAIN eF both % volume fractions investigated, the elongated mor-
Fig. 3 - - I n f l u e n c e of yield stress on true fracture strain for different phology exhibits lower ductilities compared to the globular
microstructures. shape at -1250 MPa yield stress. While the true fracture
strain drops from 0.50 to 0.30 for 10 pct %, it is reduced
from 0.20 to 0.11 for 30 pct %.
(2) For the (a + 13) ST and a-aged microstructures (10 pct
and 30 pct %) an increase in % volume fraction reduces the
ductility at all yield stress levels studied. For example, at a IV. MICROSCOPIC DEFORMATION
yield stress of about 1250 MPa (181 ksi) the microstructure AND F R A C T U R E
with 10 pet ap shows a true fracture strain of 0.50 compared
to 0.18 for the condition with 30 pet %. The microscopic details of deformation and fracture
(3) The [J-ST (0 pct %) and a-aged microstructures were studied mainly by SEM. In some cases the SEM
show lower ductilities than the (a + /3) ST and a-aged observations were augmented by TEM studies. Based on
conditions. preliminary studies, the various microstructures show
(4) The results of the to-aged conditions are illustrated par- markedly different slip modes as well as fracture behavior
tially in the 0"0.2-6Fdiagram, Figure 3; additional data are and are thus difficult to discuss concurrently. Therefore,
shown in Table I. By to-aging the [J-ST condition macro- this section will be divided into three parts: (a)[J-ST
scopic brittleness is found after aging to quite low apparent plus a-aged, (b) (a + fl) ST plus a-aged, and (c) to-aged
strengths as deduced from hardness data. The (a + /3) ST microstructures.
microstructure with 30 pct ap at a yield stress of 1218 MPa
still shows a very low ductility (1 to 2 pct RA). In addition, A. [J-ST Plus a-Aged Microstructures
however, we tested a very similar to-aged microstructure
The [J-ST plus a-aged microstructures especially in the
with 30 pct % which was produced from a different forging,
high strength condition (0"0.2 > 1300 MPa) show mainly
which has not been described here. After solution treat-
intergranular fracture (Figure 4(b)). A surface deformation
ment, this forging did not have the coarse grains and sub-
study on the gage length surface (e = eF) (Figure 4(a))
structure typical of hot rolled material, but had very
small recrystallized grains of similar size as the substruc- reveals that the plastic deformation is very localized in the
soft grain boundary a-film and leads to considerable dis-
ture ( - 1 0 / x m diameter) in the aforementioned material.
This recrystallized microstructure showed a considerably placements between adjacent grains. These displacements
frequently have a component which is perpendicular to the
higher ductility in the to-aged condition. For example, at a
specimen surface as has been determined with the aid of
strength of 1250 MPa, the true fracture strain was 0.31
stereo pairs. In addition, a band of intense deformation,
(RA = 27 pet). This value is even better than the corre-
which starts from the grain boundary triple point and spreads
sponding ductility of the a-aged microstructure at this yield
into the grain interior, can be seen. It is probable that this is
stress. At higher yield stresses, e.g., at 1350 MPa (196 ksi),
accommodation deformation which is necessitated by the
intense localized slip in the grain boundary a film parallel
Table I. Tensile Properties of to the band, and which has been stopped at the triple point.
Different co-Aged Microstructures This leads to high local stress concentrations which can be
relieved by accommodation slip in the adjacent grain.
C~p Grain/ Size ~o-Aging 002 eF RA
Vol Pct Subgrain (/zm) Temp. (°C) (MPa) (Pct) er (Pct) At lower yield stresses the amount of intergranular frac-
ture decreases, and instead more transgranular dimple type
0 grain ~ 150 260 -- 0 0 0 fracture is observed (Figure 4(c)). The dimple size is very
30 subgrain ~ 10 260 1218 0.6 0.02 2 nonuniform with sizes from less than 1 /xm to about 10 pm.
30 grain ~ 10 260 1245 5.3 0.31 27
This could be related to the platelike shape of the secondary

2104 VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983 METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A

 Fig. 4--Plastic deformation and fracture in fl-ST plus a-aged micro-
structures, (a,b) 850 °C, 2 h, WQ, 500 °C, 1 h, O'o2 = 1367 MPa,
eF = 0.03, (C) 850 °C, 2 h, WQ, 500 °C, 10 h, o02 = 1246 MPa,
ep = 0.17.

a-phase (see Figure 2(c)), since depending on the orien- formed in some areas (arrows); the orientation of these steps
tation of the plates relative to the load axis, fracture nuclei is parallel to the secondary a plates. Apparently, the matrix
associated with them would give very different dimple sizes. has deformed plastically and the degree of deformation
seems to depend on the orientation of the as plates relative
to the loading axis. At higher strains a clear tendency for
B. (a +[3) ST and a-Aged Microstructures strain localization was observed. Figure 7 illustrates some
Typical fracture surfaces of (a + [3) ST plus a-aged details of this strain localization. The SEM micrographs
microstructures are shown in Figure 5. They were taken were taken from regions very close to the fracture surface of
from two microstructures, one with 10 pct % (Figures 5(a) a specimen which contained 10 pct ap and was aged to
and (b)), the other one with 30 pct % (Figures 5(c) and (d)); o-0.2 = 1250 MPa. Localized, highly deformed zones simi-
both were aged to about 1250 MPa yield stress. Both frac- lar to the intense slip bands commonly observed in precipi-
ture surfaces contain dimples. The dimple shape and size, tation hardened alloys 15 were found. In most cases these
however, is not very regular, and is typically larger than the bands occurred in only one orientation in a single r-grain,
ap-spacing in those specimens. At higher magnifications and this orientation was close to the direction of the maxi-
there is evidence of finely spaced regions of localized plas- mum shear stress (Figure 7(a)). The bands are very long
ticity which can be seen in the interior of the dimples compared to the characteristic spacing of microstructural
(Figures 5(b) and (d)). These regions generally correlate features such as ap (Figures 7(a) and (c)). They can deviate
in spacing with the secondary a-phase. In addition, many locally, which is probably due to slightly different orien-
dimples contain what appears to be an outline of the pri- tations of the subgrains. These bands are fully developed,
mary a-phase. Although there is not a one-to-one correlation before any void nucleation is visible (Figure 7(c)). Very
between the dimple size and the primary a spacing, the close to the fracture surface a shearing process along these
dimple size of the microstructure with 30 pct % is smaller deformation bands starts (Figure 7(d)), which leads to a
than that with 10 pct % (Figures 5(a) and (c)). shear type fracture (Figures 7(a) and (b)), as can be seen
In order to study the formation of such fracture surfaces, from the elongated dimple shape. By this shearing mecha-
a more detailed investigation was performed starting nism, voids can form at the % particles (Figure 7(d)).
with the microscopic plastic deformation prior to failure. Similar deformation bands can also form in the r - S T plus
Figure 6 is a SEM micrograph which shows the surface of a-aged condition.
a tensile specimen (o'0.2 = 1277 MPa, 10 pct %) deformed With increasing yield stress, the intensity of these bands
to a true strain of e - 0.35 (eF = 0.46). Surface steps have increases at comparable strains; an example is shown in

METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONSA VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983- 2105

Fig. 5--Fracture surfaces of (a + /3) ST plus a-aged microstructures at a yield stress of about 1250 MPa (181 ksi), SEM, (a, b) 10 pct ap,
(c, d) 30 pct ap.

Figure 8. This SEM micrograph shows the intersection of relatively low yield stresses ( - 1 0 0 0 MPa) the individual
the gage length and fracture surface of a/3-ST plus a-aged deformation bands are less pronounced and are much
microstructure which failed at a stress of 1588 MPa (230 ksi) more uniformly distributed, as can be seen from Figure 9
without measurable macroscopic ductility (er = 0). This (o'0.2 = 1036 MPa, 10 pct ap). As a result, the plastic defor-
microstructure was the only/3-ST + a-aged condition ex- mation is very homogeneously distributed through the mate-
amined which did not contain GBa; here the GBa probably rial. Here the only deformation bands which are visible are
was suppressed by the low aging temperature of 320 °C. located very close to the fracture surface (Figure 9(a)), but
Fracture apparently occurred along very intense localized fracture still occurs by shear (Figure 9(b)).
slip bands, which are much more intense than those of the If the volume fraction of ap is changed from 10 pct, as
microstructure in Figure 7 with 1250 MPa yield stress. At described above, to 30 pct the formation of more intense

2106--VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983 METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONSA

 been examined. To do this, failed tensile specimens were
sectioned longitudinally, and one of the fiat surfaces was
electropolished and etched. Void nucleation was studied
below the fracture surface in the center of the specimen.
Figure 12 summarizes the results. The majority of voids
were associated with ap-particles as is illustrated in
Figure 12(a). Figure 12(a) also shows some evidence of the
void formation process. If the voids on the lower left and
upper right are connected by constructing a straight line
between them, one can see that the ap-particle in the center
is sheared off along this line and starts to form a void.
Therefore, together with the observations in Figure 11, it
seems that deformation bands cut through the ap-particles
and start void nucleation. It is not clear exactly where the
voids start, but it is most likely that they start at the interface
between ap and the aged matrix because of the high stress
concentrations and strain incompatibility there.
Voids were also observed at sites where subgrain bound-
aries impinge on the primary a-phase (Figure 12(b)). Also,
voids form at the interface between the secondary a-phase
and the /3-matrix (Figure 12(c)) as well as at inclusions.
Generally, all the above mentioned voids were relatively
small even very close to the fracture surface and didn't
Fig. 6 - - S u r f a c e deformation on an ( a + /3) ST plus a - a g e d tensile speci- show a strong tendency to coalesce to form larger cracks.
men at a true plastic strain of about e - 0.40 (er = 0.46), 10 pct ap, aged
0.3 h at 500 °C, 0"o.2 = 1277 MPa, SEM.
One possible explanation for this observation is that once
the first voids form, they grow very quickly and become
unstable and that this happens only in a very small volume
deformation bands in the matrix is seen at comparable yield of the specimen.
stress and plastic strain. Thus, increasing the ap volume Besides a variety of a-aged conditions, some selected
fraction has the same effect as increasing the yield stress. to-aged microstructures were studied. These were the/3-ST
The possible reasons for this will be discussed later. and to-aged condition (er = 0) and the (a + fl) ST plus
Additional evidence for the occurrence of localized defor- to-aged condition with a true fracture strain of 0.31 (see
mation was found by TEM. Tensile tests were interrupted Table I). Extremely intense slip bands are observed on the
before the onset of fracture. Thin foils were prepared from gage length surface (Figure 13(a)) of the/3-ST plus to-aged
the highly deformed necked regions. The following two condition with a/3 grain size of about 150/~m. These slip
figures show the deformation structures observed in two bands form because the coherent to particles are sheared by
different specimens. Figure 10 illustrates a microstructure moving dislocations, as has been shown previously. 15Frac-
with 10 pct ap whereas Figure 11 illustrates one with 30 pct ture occurs along the slip bands in a step-like pattern which
ap. Although both were a-aged to about 1250 MPa yield is caused by concurrent shear cracks which form on several
stress, the ductilities differed substantially (Figure 3). parallel slip bands and coalesce by tearing (Figure 13(b)).
Figure 10(a) shows generally uniform plastic deformation The (a + /3) ST plus w-aged condition with a much
throughout the microstructure. In some areas a localized smaller grain size ( - 1 0 / x m ) also shows slip bands devel-
deformation is starting as illustrated in Figure 10(b), which oping. However, they are much less intense, are more finely
leads to a bent shape of the secondary a plates. Trace analy- spaced, and their length is smaller due to the reduced grain
sis has shown that two directions in which this localized size (Figure 13(c)). The fracture surface shows a dimple
plastic deformation occurs are (ll0)t~ and (112)t3. The sec- type fracture and, at a higher magnification, traces of the
ondary a is also heavily deformed to a bent shape close to slip bands are visible (Figure 13(d)). A TEM examination of
ap-particles and subgrain boundaries (Figure 10(c)). a highly deformed (e - eF) specimen of the above micro-
Figure 11 supports the observations of Figure 10 and pro- structure showed the existence of intense slip bands in the
vides some additional information. Figure l l(a) shows the to-aged matrix (Figure 14(a)). Figure 14(b) illustrates that
interaction of a deformation band with a primary a particle. these slip bands are strong enough to cause offsets at the
Apparently at least two bands (see arrows) have cut through grain boundary which can lead to crack nucleation at these
the interface between ap and the aged matrix causing offsets sites. It must be kept in mind that this microstructure con-
in the order of 0.1 /xm. In addition, by imaging one of the tains 30 pct ap, which also can play an important role in the
bands (Figure ll(b)) it appears that the bending of the sec- fracture process. However, the experimental evidence
ondary a plates is more localized and more intense than strongly suggests that the reduction in grain size is the more
in the 10 pct ap microstructure despite the lower macro- important factor behind the large change in ductility. This is
scopic strain. supported by the fact that the microstructure with 30 pct ap
In addition to the microscopic deformation, the cor- which had coarse grains containing a substructure instead of
relation between void nucleation and strain localization has small recrystallized grains, showed a very poor ductility.

METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1 9 8 3 - 2107

 I

Fig. 7 - - P l a s t i c deformation and fracture in an (a + /3) ST plus a-aged microstructure, 0"02 = 1250 MPa. (a) Intersection of gage length surface and
fracture surface, (b) fracture surface, (c) deformation bands at strain smaller than fracture strain, and (d) deformation bands at fracture strain.

V. DISCUSSION will be made to correlate the mechanical properties and

microstructures on the basis of the observed slip and frac-
The results have shown that, for Ti-10-2-3 with a variety
ture modes.
of microstructures, a wide range of yield stresses can be
reached and that the ductility response is strongly influenced
both by the microstructure and by the yield strength. A. Mechanical Properties
Based on these results, the discussion will focus on the The ductility values of the a-aged conditions have shown
following topics: first, the mechanical properties will be a very strong sensitivity to changes in yield stress and micro-
discussed with emphasis on the ductility. Second, the differ- structure (Figure 3, Tables I and II). From the "trend lines"
ent slip and fracture modes will be discussed and an attempt in Figure 3, for example, a 100 MPa (14.5 ksi) increase in

2 1 0 8 - VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983 METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A

Fig. 8--Plastic deformation and fracture in a/3-ST plus a-aged micro-
structure, no G B a , 850 °C, 2 h, WQ, 320 °C, 5 h, 0"02 = 1588 MPa
(230 ksi), ev = 0, intersection of gage length surface and fracture sur-
face, SEM.

yield stress can cause a reduction of the true fracture strain

of AeF = 0.25 (ARA = 23 pct) for the microstructure with
10 pct ap. By comparison, the ductility of the /3-ST plus
a-aged condition (0 pct ap) is less sensitive to variations in
strength, and the equivalent decrease in fracture strain
is AeF = 0.06. The ductility also is very sensitive to
changes in microstructure. The most pronounced effect cor-
responds to a change from 10 pct to 0 pct ap, which at a
yield stress of 1250 MPa reduces the ductility from
ee = 0.55 (RA = 42 pct) to eF = 0.15 (RA = 14 pct). At
lower yield stresses this effect is even more pronounced.
These observations have important practical implications
regarding the processing and heat treatment of this alloy. For
example, the control of forging or heat treatment practice
must be carefully monitored in order to guarantee acceptable
and reproducible ductility. That is, any solution treatment
Fig. 9--Plastic deformation and fracture in an (a + /3) ST plus a-aged
close to the /3-transus must be very carefully controlled microstructure, 15 pct ap, aged 1 h at 650 °C, 0o.2 = 1036 MPa,
since solution treatment only slightly above and below eF = 0.77, SEM.
the /3 -transus - - resulting in 0 pct ap and 10 pct ap, for
example--leads to very different microstructures and duc-
tilities (Figure 3). Equally important, solution treating be- position which are equivalent to a 40 °C change of
low the/3-transus at slightly different temperatures can also the/3-transus have been observed in Ti-10-2-3, ~° the local
lead to significant ductility changes (Figure 3). In addition variations in ap-volume fractions after a solution treatment
to solution treatment temperatures, the aging treatment also can be considerable and can lead to significantly different
must be carefully controlled since changes in the rate of mechanical properties within a structural part.
heating to the aging temperature can cause considerable The well-known embrittling effect of ~o-particles ~5 can
differences in the nature of as precipitation. This also can effectively be avoided by properly reducing the/3 grain size
lead to changes in the yield stress and ductility. 14 (Table I). In fine grained material, the ductility of the
Considerable scatter in the ductility due to chemical in- oJ-aged microstructure with the small grain size is com-
homogeneities has been reported. ~° Based on our results, petitive with that of the most ductile c~-aged conditions,
this is not surprising. The chemical composition mainly especially at high yield stresses. This w-aged microstructure
determines the volume fraction of ap after a certain solu- is attractive insofar as it exhibits fatigue strength values
tion treatment. Since local variations in the chemical com- comparable to a-aged microstructures and a clear trend

METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983- - 2109

 Fig. 1 0 - - P l a s t i c deformation close to fracture in an ( a + /3) ST plus
a - a g e d microstructure, l0 pct ap, tro2 = 1202 MPa, ev = 0.63, TEM.

!/,

Fig. 11 Plastic deformation close to fracture in an ( a - /3) ST plus a - a g e d microstructure, 30 pct ap, 00. 2 = 1238 MPa, er = 0.17, TEM.

toward higher threshold values in fatigue crack propagation, consist of a r-phase matrix which contains or-phase precipi-
as recent studies have shown. 16,17 tates. Both phases are ductile and can deform plastically.
From several studies there is evidence that the yield stress
B. Microscopic Deformation, Correlation and subsequent strain hardening of the two phase mixture
strongly depends on the size, morphology, and volume frac-
Before entering into a more detailed discussion of the tion of the different types of ot present (otp, ors, GBot,
results, it appears to be useful to point out in somewhat SGBOt). 18'2°'21 Since all the or-aged conditions contain a
general terms the complex nature of plastic deformation in mixture of a-types with numerous combinations of size,
a two phase alloy (Figure 15) such as this. These alloys morphology, and volume fraction (see Figure 2), it is very

2110-- VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983 METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A

 Fig. 12--Void nucleation in (c~ + /3) ST plus c~-aged microstructures,
SEM. (a, b) void nucleation at c~p, (c) void nucleation at c~s.

difficult to separate the individual contributions of each been shown to increase the ductility of an age hardened
factor to plastic deformation and fracture. Therefore, the Ti-Mo alloy considerably. 18This has been proven indirectly
discussion will be limited to a more qualitative explanation a l s o in this study, since in the (a + fl)ST plus a-aged
of the microscopic observations. For practical reasons this conditions the subgrains or grains with a diameter in the
will be subdivided into fl-ST plus a-aged, (a + fl)ST plus order of 10/xm also develop an a-film during aging, but the
a-aged, and oJ-aged microstructures. a-film is not responsible for the main void nucleation pro-
cess. Even if subboundary a were responsible for initiating
(1) fl-ST plus a-aged microstructures fracture, in such cases much higher ductilities are reached
compared to the fl-ST plus a-aged conditions.
The predominant microstructural parameter responsible Reducing the yield stress difference between GBa and
for the relatively low ductilities of this microstructural con- the matrix by lowering the latter has been shown to increase
dition is the grain boundary a film (Figure 4). As has been the ductility, too (Figure 3). This ductility increase is ac-
shown here and in more detail elsewhere for similar micro- companied by an increasing amount of transgranular frac-
structures, 2'4A4 the presence of grain boundary a leads to ture (Figure 4(c)). This observation could be explained as
long soft zones which deform preferentially during plastic follows: Beside the GB-a-film also the aged matrix deforms
deformation, since the aged matrix is considerably stronger. plastically more and more, and before crack nucleation
This results in large plastic strains distributed over a rela- occurs at the grain boundaries, the matrix itself develops
tively small volume of the material. Moreover, this occurs deformation bands starting, for example, from grain bound-
at stresses less than those corresponding to the yield stress ary triple points, and transgranular fracture is initiated in
of the matrix. Because of the long slip length (-<grain size) these bands. A more detailed discussion of the deformation
high stress concentrations and high local strains develop at bands will be given later.
grain boundary triple points, where further propagation of
the slip is difficult because of the higher flow stress of the (2) (a + fl) ST plus a-aged microstructures
a + fl matrix (Figure 15, arrow 1). This can lead to frac-
ture at low macroscopic strains, although the local strains in These microstructures are commercially the most inter-
the grain boundary a are high. Controlling factors for crack esting, since they exhibit the best combinations of mechan-
nucleation are the length and thickness of the soft grain ical properties (Figure 3). 4,9 It appears useful to start the
boundary zones as well as the yield stress difference be- discussion using a fixed microstructure with a constant yield
tween the aged matrix and the soft zone.~8'~9 Reducing the stress, for example, with 10 pct a e aged to 1250 MPa. De-
length of the zones, for example, by a smaller grain size has formation studies have shown that, at the inception of plastic

METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONSA VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983-- 2111

Fig. 1 3 - - P l a s t i c deformation and fracture in 2 different o~-aged microstructures, SEM. (a,b) /3-ST + co-aged, grain size - 1 5 0 / x m , er = 0.
(c,d) (a + /3) ST + ~o-aged, 30 pct ore, grain size - 1 0 / x m , er = 0.31.

deformation, the plastic strain is homogeneously distributed phases becomes more difficult because of incompatibility
throughout the microstructure, but that at higher strains the brought about by differences in the strain hardening behav-
onset of strain localization occurs. For high volume frac- ior of the two phases. The details of the strain hardening of
tions of small as, the strain localization can become extreme these two ductile phases are not totally clear yet, but two
and can lead to macroscopic brittleness (Figure 8). Al- recent studies have shown that the small as-particles exhibit
though the microscopic results are not totally conclusive, it a high strength which is either produced by a rapid strain
is possible to provide some insight into the nature of the hardening of the basicly soft a-phase especially for small
observed deformation bands and the role of these bands in dimensions (Hamajima, L~itjering, Weissmann 2°) or by a
the overall fracture process. At low plastic strains the a- and high initial dislocation density induced by transformation
/3-phase strain harden separately, and the a-phase appar- strains (Young, Levine, Margolin2~). This causes a micro-
ently acts as a barrier to slip propagation. With increasing structure condition similar to a dispersion strengthened sys-
plastic strain, the independent strain hardening of the two tem except that the a-particles despite their high strength are

2112--VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983 METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A

Fig. 14--Microscopic deformation in an (ce + /3) ST plus ~o-aged microstructure, 30pct %, recrystallized, er = 0.31, TEM. (a) Intersecting slip bands,
(b) offsets at grain boundaries caused by intense slip bands.

Primay a (~p) as-plates lie parallel to the slip direction, since in that case
the slip length has its maximum value ( - c o l o n y size). The
second possible explanation of the observed slip phenom-
enon is based on the assumption that slip does not pass
through the a,-/3 interface, but that instead the local stress
concentrations at the interface may induce slip in the
a-phase leading to a shearing of this a and of the adjacent
/3 and so on. The favorable sites for the second mechanism
are the same as for the first. Both mechanisms could explain
the statistical formation of deformation bands at favored
sites linking up to microbands at an angle of about 45 deg
to the load.
An interesting question arising from the above discussion
is if and how the observed slip distribution will influence the
fracture process. In this study most of the emphasis has been
placed on the crack initiation part of the fracture. Our obser-
vations show that crack initiation occurs mainly at primary
a particles. This has been found in numerous two phase Ti
alloys; however, a clear criterion for void nucleation has not
Fig. 1S--Schematic illustration of stress or strain concentrations acting as been identified yet. Our results suggest that the voids start
possible void nucleation sites.
at those sites where the deformation bands impinge on the
interface between ap and aged matrix. These sites also cor-
still capable of deforming plastically. As a result and in respond to regions of high stress or strain concentrations and
contrast to rigid dispersoids it is possible to deform further lead to offsets in the interface (Figures ll(b), 12(b), 15
the a-phase plastically which defers nucleation of voids (arrow 3)) and to void nucleation there. From this the fol-
at the a-/3 interface until higher strains are reached. This lowing conclusions can be drawn: first, the primary a
further deformation occurs as localized deformation boundaries are important void nucleation sites. Second,
bands. The bands can develop in two ways as illustrated in however, the aged matrix or secondary a also has a strong
Figure 15 (arrow 2): (1) slip can pass through the a-/3 inter- effect on the void nucleation process, since it controls the
faces as has been observed already for other Ti-alloys. 2~'22 propensity for deformation band formation, and it is these
This reaction is likely since, according to the Burgers deformation bands which cause void nucleation.
orientation relationship, the a - and /3-phase have several In the above discussion only a fixed microstructure and
common slip systems and Burgers vectors of comparable yield stress (e.g., 10 pct %, ~r0.2 = 1250 MPa) were con-
magnitude. This transition of slip from/3 to a should hap- sidered. It is now appropriate to consider how changes
pen at sites with high local stress or strain concentrations. in the microstructural parameters can influence the strain
Such a site is, for example, at the boundary of two as-/3 localization, void nucleation, and the corresponding me-
colonies as is indicated by arrow 2 in Figure 15. The local chanical properties.
stresses at the colony boundary are highest if (1) the slip An increase in the volume fraction of the secondary a
occurs in the maximum shear stress direction and (2) if the and a reduction in the as particle size leads to an increased

METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983- - 2113

yield stress, a higher strain hardening during plastic defor- aged to o-0.2 = 1250 MPa). In addition, it appears that the
mation, and to a lower ductility (Figure 3). 14This is accom- relative quantitative dimensions and volume fractions of the
panied by an increasing propensity for strain localization different types of a also play an important role in initiating
(Figures 6 and 8). voids. The general controlling parameters seem to be local
This observation can be explained by the results of an stress or strain concentrations which can occur at several
aforementioned study on a different fl-Ti-alloy (Ti-7Mo- sites within the microstructure (ap-fl interface, a:fl inter-
7A1),2° which show that the small a-particles strain harden face, ap-subgrain boundary interface, grain boundary
much more rapidly than the large a-particles. This leads to a-film). Moreover, which site becomes active for void
an increased strain hardening difference between the a- and nucleation or how the different possible sites work in a
/3-phase and to the formation of deformation bands at lower combination appears to be sensitively controlled by the
strains. Increasing the volume fraction of a:particles would quantitative mixture of a-types, volume fractions, and
lead to a more rapid overall strain hardening because the morphologies. For example, deformation bands are the
a-particles strain harden much faster than the/3-matrix, and dominant void nucleation site at higher yield stresses while
again the strain hardening differences which lead to shear at lower yield stresses the interfaces between ap and SGBa
band formation would be reached at small macroscopic and/or aged matrix can act as void nucleation sites.
strains. Taking an increased a:dislocation density with For a complete correlation between microscopic and mac-
decreasing a:size 21 would lead to similar tendencies for the roscopic fracture the crack growth has to be taken into
band formation. Besides the as-size, its plate-like mor- account. Although in this study this has not been done
phology might affect the band formation.14 Based on the systematically, it has been observed that, especially in the
mechanism shown in Figure 15, one would expect that for high strength conditions, voids were not visible even at high
an increasing plate length the slip length within a colony magnifications (10,000 times) until very shortly before frac-
increases, which in turn raises the stress concentration at the ture. This suggests that the contribution of the crack growth
interface to the next colony and leads to band formation at process to the ductility in those conditions is not very
lower strains. This model would explain the unexpected marked and that it is mainly controlled by the strain harden-
ductility drop during overaging of the microstructure with ing and void nucleation.
10 pet ap and the high aspect ratio as, since the only micro-
structural change observed was an increased plate length and
possibly thickness. (3) to-aged microstructures
Changing the primary a condition also affects the defor- During deformation of the to-aged conditions the
mation and fracture, as will be shown by two examples. w-particles are sheared by moving dislocations (Figures 14
First, changing the morphology of the primary a from and 15). Intense slip bands (dislocation pile-ups) form; they
globular to elongated leads to a lower ductility at compara- create high stress concentrations at slip barriers like grain
ble yield stresses (Table II). A possible explanation is the boundaries and primary a-particles. This can lead to crack
decreased planar interparticle spacing23 for the elongated nucleation at these sites at very low macroscopic strains.
compared to the globular ap causing a higher void density The extent to which these stress concentrations develop is
when the deformation bands cut through them. Changing the influenced by the yield stress increase due to particle hard-
volume fraction of ap has two effects. First, it also reduces ening as well as by the slip length (grain size and/or
the ap-spacing leading to a higher void density. In addition, a:spacing). 24 Both of these factors affect ductility. These
when comparing two microstructures with a constant yield correlations permit mechanical properties to be explained.
stress but different ap volume fractions, the increased vol- The ductility increases continuously if one compares a large
ume fraction of soft primary a does not contribute to the grain (-150/xm) in the/3-ST condition (eF = 0), with the
strength and must be offset by a higher matrix strength in (a + /3) ST condition with 30 pct ap and a substructure
order to reach the same macroscopic yield stress. Such a (eF = 0.02) and with the (a + /3) ST condition with the
matrix has been shown to favor earlier formation of the same amount of ap but very small recrystallized grains
deformation bands and to fracture at lower strains (see ( - 10/zm diameter) (er = 0.31). A comparison of the three
Figure 3). microstructures also shows that neither the subgrain bound-
The discussion up to this point has focused mainly on the aries nor the ap are effective barriers for slip bands com-
deformation bands and the void formation associated with pared to a grain refinement. An improvement of the yield
these bands because this appears to be the dominant process. stress-ductility combination would be reached by further
In addition, however, further types of void nucleation have reducing the grain size and also by reducing the primary a
been observed. For example, voids have been seen at the volume fraction. The latter suggestion is made since the soft
sites where subgrain boundaries impinge on the ap-particles primary a leads to early accumulation of plastic strain, and
(Figures 12(b) and 15 (arrow 5)). Void formation at such in order to reach a certain macroscopic yield stress the
sites is likely because there will be high local stresses or matrix has to be more extensively to-strengthened than in a
steep strain gradients in the regions where the aged matrix, structure without the ap. This, in turn, lowers the ductility.
the soft ap, and the subgrain a interact. Finally, a few
instances of crack initiation have also been observed within
the aged matrix, especially for microstructures with very
long arplate dimensions (Figures 12(c) and 15 (arrow 4)). VI. CONCLUSIONS
Based on this discussion some more general conclusions In Ti-10-2-3 a variety of microstructures has been studied.
can be made: deformation and fracture depend very sensi- They were established by a combination of forging, solution
tively on the qualitative microstructure type and on the yield treating, and subsequent aging and were characterized by
stress (consider, for example, the 10 pct ap microstructure different types of a (ap, as, SGBa, GBa), with different

2 1 1 4 - - VOLUME 14A, OCTOBER 1983 METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A

volume fractions and morphologies. The results can be sum- the slip barriers like grain boundaries and interfaces between
marized as follows: ap and w-aged matrix. Reducing the slip length by a de-
creasing grain size can improve the ductility considerably.
1. For different microstructures a wide range of yield
stresses can be reached varying from about 900 MPa to
1450 MPa.
2. The ductility depends strongly on the microstructure REFERENCES
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the ductility for a fixed microstructure; the sensitivity Burte, eds., Plenum Press, New York,NY, 1973, vol. 3, p. 1983.
ARA/Acro.2 showed values up to 22 pct per 100 M P a . 2. E H. Froes, J. C. Chesnutt, C. G. Rhodes, and J. C. Williams: ASTM
For the (a + fl) ST plus a-aged microstructures in- STP 651, Toughness and Fracture Behavior of Titanium, 1978,
p. 115.
creasing the ap volume fraction as well as changing from 3. F.H. Froes, R.F. Malone, V.C. Peterson, C.G. Rhodes, J.C.
globular to elongated ap reduces the ductility at compar- Chesnutt, and J. C. Williams: AFML-TR-75-4, Air Force Materials
able yield stresses. The/3-ST plus a-aged conditions have Laboratory, Dayton, OH, 1975, vols. 1 and II.
lower ductilities than the (a + /3) ST plus a-aged condi- 4. J.C. Williams, E H. Froes, J. C. Chesnuu, C. G. Rhodes, and R. G.
Berryman: ASTM STP 651, Toughness and Fracture Behavior of
tions. For a o~-aged microstructure (30 pct ap) a transi-
Titanium, 1978, p. 64.
tion from macroscopic brittleness to a marked ductility 5. H.W. Rosenberg: Joint Conference: Forging and Properties of Aero-
(er = 0.31 at o'0.2 = 1250 MPa) has been observed, space Materials, University of Leeds, Leeds, England, January 1977.
when the grain size is reduced from 150/zm to 10/zm. 6. E. Bohanek: Technical Report No. 55, Titanium Metals Corporation
3. A detailed microscopical study of deformation and frac- of America, May 1972.
7. C.C. Chen and C.P. Gure: Report RD74-120, Wyman-Gordon
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For the /3-ST plus a-aged microstructures the grain 8. C.C. Chen: Report RD-75-118, Wyman-Gordon Company, North
boundary a film is the dominant parameter for fracture Grafton, MA, November 1975.
since the plastic strain is localized in this small volume 9. R.R. Boyer: Journal of Metals, March 1980, vol. 32, p. 61.
10. C.C. Chen and R.R. Boyer: Journal of Metals, July 1979, vol. 31,
leading to premature fracture and to low ductilities. In the
p. 33.
(a + /3) ST plus a-aged conditions the onset of fracture 11. G. Lenning: Report No. RD 012, TIMET, March 1976.
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nation of factors including the types of a(ap, as, SGBa, Dayton, OH, 1978.
13. E.L. Herman, J. Kozol, and A.R. Troiano: Trans. ASM, 1958,
GBa), their morphologies, and volume fraction.
vol. 50, p. 418.
It is concluded that several possible sites with stress or 14. T.W. Duerig, G.T. Terlinde, and J. C. Williams: MetaU. Trans. A,
strain concentrations exist in the microstructure, and which 1980, vol. llA, p. 1987.
are active for void nucleation depends on the above combi- 15. A. Gysler, G. Terlinde, and G. Luetjering: Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. on
Titanium, Moscow, USSR, J.C. Williams and A.F. Belov, eds.,
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localization has been observed. This leads to crack nucle- Pittsburgh, PA, unpublished research, 1981.
ation at increasingly lower strains at ap particles, which are 17. G. Terlinde and J.C. Williams: Carnegie-Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, PA, unpublished research, 1980.
cut by the localized deformation bands. An explanation is 18. M. Peters and G. Luetjering: Zeitschriftf. Metallkunde, 1976, vol. 67,
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lower yield stresses as well as at the sites where sub- 22. K.S. Chan, C.C. Wojcik, and D. A. Koss: Metall. Trans. A, 1981,
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are explained by increased stress concentrations at the par- 23. P.P. Bonsel and A.J. Ardell: Metallography, 1972, vol. 5,
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coherent oJ-particles are sheared by moving dislocations, 25. H. Margolin and Y. Mahajan: Metall. Trans. A, 1978, vol. 9A,
which leads to planar slip with high stress concentrations at p. 781.

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