Effect of deformation heating on microstructure evolution during hot forging of Ti-6Al-4V

The effect of deformation heating on microstructure evolution during hot forging of Ti-6Al-4V was established. For this purpose, right-circular cylinders of Ti-6Al-4V with an equiaxed-α preform microstructure were preheated to a temperature between 1148 K (875 °C) and 1223 K (950 °C), and compressed to a 60-pct. height reduction in a screw press, yielding average true strain rates of ~ 5 to 20 s−1. Thermocouple measurements and corroborating finite-element-method (FEM) simulations quantified substantial deformation-heating-induced temperature increases. For all preheat temperatures, the heating transient led to an exposure above the equilibrium β transus temperature. Despite such temperature excursions, the volume fraction of equiaxed primary α in each forged billet was only slightly lower than that in the corresponding preheated condition. The source of such observations was rationalized on the basis of the (hypothesized) solute-concentration fields that develop during the heating and cooling transients experienced in high-rate deformation processing.