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Nucleation Mechanisms of Refined Alpha Microstructure in Beta Titanium Alloys

Zheng, Yufeng

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Materials Science and Engineering.
Due to a great combination of physical and mechanical properties, beta titanium alloys have become promising candidates in the field of chemical industry, aerospace and biomedical materials. The microstructure of beta titanium alloys is the governing factor that determines their properties and performances, especially the size scale, distribution and volume fraction of precipitate phase in parent phase matrix. Therefore in order to enhance the performance of beta titanium alloys, it is critical to obtain a thorough understanding of microstructural evolution in beta titanium alloys upon various thermal and/or mechanical processes. The present work is focusing on the study of nucleation mechanisms of refined alpha microstructure and super-refined alpha microstructure in beta titanium alloys in order to study the influence of instabilities within parent phase matrix on precipitates nucleation, including compositional instabilities and/or structural instabilities. The current study is primarily conducted in Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr (wt%, Ti-5553), a commercial material for aerospace application. Refined and super-refined precipitates microstructure in Ti-5553 are obtained under specific accurate temperature controlled heat treatments. The characteristics of either microstructure are investigated in details using various characterization techniques, such as SEM, TEM, STEM, HRSTEM and 3D atom probe to describe the features of microstructure in the aspect of morphology, distribution, structure and composition. Nucleation mechanisms of refined and super-refined precipitates are proposed in order to fully explain the features of different precipitates microstructure in Ti-5553. The necessary thermodynamic conditions and detailed process of phase transformations are introduced. In order to verify the reliability of proposed nucleation mechanisms, thermodynamic calculation and phase field modeling simulation are accomplished using the database of simple binary Ti-Mo system. Therefore, the nucleation mechanisms proposed could successfully explain the features of refined and super-refined precipitates microstructure in Ti-5553, validated by thermodynamic calculations and phase field modeling simulation. In addition to the study of microstructure evolution in beta titanium alloys upon various heat treatment conditions, another effort made in the current study is to apply various phase transformation analysis tools on titanium alloys in order to capture the initial stage of precipitation and investigate the kinetics of precipitation. Especially Electro-Thermo-Mechanical Tester (ETMT) is used to in-situ measure the physical properties change of Ti-5553 during heat treatment and therefore analyze the kinetics of phase transformation. This part of work can be treated as complementary work of the study of microstructure evolution in beta titanium alloys. In summary, refined and super-refined precipitates microstructure in Ti-5553 are studied using both modern characterization techniques and computational simulation. Nucleation mechanisms are proposed to explain all the features of two specific microstructures and critical heat treatment conditions are figured out. Therefore, this insightful study is not only beneficial to understanding the details of phase transformation in the scientific aspect but also complement to selection of heat treatment conditions in industry area.
Hamish Fraser (Advisor)
Yunzhi Wang (Committee Member)
Michael Mills (Committee Member)
235 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Zheng, Y. (2013). Nucleation Mechanisms of Refined Alpha Microstructure in Beta Titanium Alloys [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366296464

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Zheng, Yufeng. Nucleation Mechanisms of Refined Alpha Microstructure in Beta Titanium Alloys. 2013. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366296464.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Zheng, Yufeng. "Nucleation Mechanisms of Refined Alpha Microstructure in Beta Titanium Alloys." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366296464

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)