Heat-Treatment Effects on the Microstructure and Tensile Properties of Powder Metallurgy Ti-6Al-4V Alloys Modified with Boron

The Ti-6Al-4V (Ti-64) alloys modified with two levels of boron (1B and 1.7B (wt pct)) representing hypoeutectic and hypereutectic compositions, produced via a prealloyed powder metallurgy approach, were subjected to various standard heat treatments of Ti-64 to study the microstructural evolution and its influence on tensile properties. Boron-modified Ti-64 (Ti-64B) alloys exhibited differences in microstructural response to heat treatment compared to that of Ti-64 due to variations in constituent phase fractions and the influence of TiB on the beta-to-alpha phase transformation kinetics. The tensile elastic modulus of Ti-64B alloys increased nearly linearly with the boron content (or TiB volume fraction) and the increase could be satisfactorily predicted with an isostrain rule of mixtures (ROMs) and the Halpin-Tsai model. The Ti-64-1B possessed a good combination of tensile strength (1200 to1370 MPa) and ductility (10 to 13 pct), while Ti-64-1.7B exhibited high strength (1300 to 1695 MPa) and modest ductility (2 to 3.5 pct). Coarse primary TiB particles present in Ti-64-1.7B were found to initiate premature failure. Strength modeling revealed that load sharing by the micron-sized TiB whiskers provides the major contribution for the increase in yield strength.