Effect of Interstitial Element O on Cryogenic Mechanical Properties in β-Type Ti-15Mo Alloy
DAI Jincai1, MIN Xiaohua1(), XIN Shewei2, LIU Fengjin1
1 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China 2 Northwest Institute for Non-Ferrous Metal Research, Xi'an 710016, China
Cite this article:
DAI Jincai, MIN Xiaohua, XIN Shewei, LIU Fengjin. Effect of Interstitial Element O on Cryogenic Mechanical Properties in β-Type Ti-15Mo Alloy. Acta Metall Sin, 2025, 61(2): 243-252.
Ti and titanium alloys are preferred for cryogenic applications, particularly at a liquid hydrogen temperature of 20 K, in aerospace due to their high specific strength, good corrosion resistance, low magnetic permeability, and low thermal expansion coefficient. Currently, the most common cryogenic titanium alloys are extra-low interstitial α-type and near α-type alloys. However, they exhibit inadequate age hardening and low cold-forming ability. Furthermore, they do not meet the enhanced strength-ductility requirements for cryogenic structural components. Metastable β-type titanium alloys with a {332}<113> twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) effect have shown enhanced mechanical properties, such as a favorable balance of strength-ductility at ambient and cryogenic temperatures. Therefore, they are considered promising titanium alloy candidates for cryogenic applications. The content of interstitial elements, particularly the O content, has a substantial impact on the cryogenic ductility of titanium alloys. Therefore, all cryogenic titanium alloys have extremely rigorous requirements regarding the O content. However, the effect of O content on the cryogenic tensile behavior of {332}<113> TWIP alloys remains unclear. This study investigated the cryogenic tensile behavior of Ti-15Mo alloy with O contents of 0.2% and 0.4% (mass fraction, the same below) at 20 K. The tests were conducted using HRTEM, FIB, EBSD, SEM, OM, and a tensile testing machine fitted with a cryogenic system. Results show that the alloy comprising 0.2%O content (0.2O alloy) exhibits a good combination of tensile strength (1825 MPa) and elongation (7.5%). This alloy displays typical microvoid coalescence fracture characteristics. Alternatively, the alloy with 0.4%O content (0.4O alloy) presents a high tensile strength of 1973 MPa, a relatively low elongation of 1.5%, and typical cleavage fracture characteristics. The discrepancy in cryogenic tensile properties between the two alloys can be attributed to the effect of O content on the formation of {332}<113> twins. Several {332}<113> twins appear in the 0.2O alloy, whereas only a small number of twins are observed near the fracture region in the 0.4O alloy. The exceptional strength of the 0.2O alloy is attributed to the enhanced critically resolved shear stress of twinning, while the impressive elongation is attributed to the formation of numerous twins that impede local plastic deformation. The 0.2O alloy exhibits a noticeably serrated tensile curve and multiple necking. The activation of twins in the necking region hinders local plastic deformation and necking, thus enhancing the strength-ductility combination. Hence, by effectively using the interstitial element O, the cryogenic mechanical properties of metastable β-type titanium alloys can be effectively tailored as per requirements.
Fig.1 Schematics of dimension of tensile specimen (unit: mm) (a) and locations of microstructure and morphology observations for tensile fractured specimen (b)
Fig.2 OM images and TEM analyses of initial microstructures in 0.2O (a-d) and 0.4O (e-h) alloys after treatment at 20 K (ω1 and ω2 are the variants of ω) (a, e) OM images of the position for extracting lamella by field emission focused ion beam (FE-FIB) (Insets are the SEM images) (b, f) dark field (DF) images of the one-variant of ω-phase (Insets are the corresponding selected area electron diff-raction (SAED) patterns) (c, g) high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) images (Insets are the corresponding fast Fourier transformation (FFT) patterns) (d, h) Fourier-filtered HRTEM images in the regions denoted by black rectangles in Figs.2c and g
Fig.3 Tensile load-displacement curves (a) and macro-photographs of tensile fractured specimens (b) of 0.2O and 0.4O alloys deformed at 20 K
Fig.4 SEM (a1, b1) and corresponding high magnified (a2, a3, b2, b3) images of fracture morphologies of 0.2O (a1-a3) and 0.4O (b1-b3) alloys deformed at 20 K
Fig.5 Deformation microstructures in a uniform plastic deformation region (a-d) and in a necking region (e-h) in 0.2O alloy deformed at 20 K (The perpendicular direction is parallel to the tensile direction, RD is rolling direction) (a, e) backscattered electron (BSE) images (b, f) high magnified BSE images of areas b and f in Figs.5a and e, respectively (c, g) inverse pole figures (IPFs) and locally high magnified IPFs (insets) (d, h) kernel average misorientation (KAM) maps (i, j) misorientation profiles along the lines of the insets in Figs.5c and g, respectively
Fig.6 Deformation microstructures adjacent to fracture region in 0.4O alloy deformed at 20 K (The perpendicular direction is parallel to the tensile direction, RD—rolling direction) (a, b) BSE images (c) IPF and locally high magnified IPF (inset) (d) KAM map (e) misorientation profile along the line of the inset in Fig.6c
Fig.7 Tensile properties of 0.2O and 0.4O alloys at 20 K compared with other titanium alloys[2,7,9,11,15,28~31] (ELI—extra-low interstitial)
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