Plasticity Induced Transformation in a metastable β Ti-1023 alloy by controlled heat treatments

Investigations into the possibility of improving the strength-ductility relation in a metastable β-titanium alloy (Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al) through plasticity induced transformation (PiTTi) have been carried out. Various heat treatments in the β and/or α+β condition were performed to study their influence on both the microstructure and solute partitioning, which eventually control the PiTTi effect. Stress-induced martensite formation promoting such effect has been observed upon compression testing for β and β+(α+β) microstructures. The stress-strain curves exhibiting stress-induced martensite show ~20% increase in strength, while still retaining a reasonable ductility level. Microstructural parameters such as grain size and solute concentration (especially V) in β have been related to the alloy’s ability to exhibit PiTTi.