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Acta Metall Sin  2026, Vol. 62 Issue (6): 1082-1090    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00339
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Microstructural Evolution and Slip Mechanisms in TC4 Titanium Alloy During Cyclic Deformation
WU Fan, LIU Huahui, BIAN Wenshan, CAI Junyu, JIN Shijie, LUO Zhongbing()
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Cite this article: 

WU Fan, LIU Huahui, BIAN Wenshan, CAI Junyu, JIN Shijie, LUO Zhongbing. Microstructural Evolution and Slip Mechanisms in TC4 Titanium Alloy During Cyclic Deformation. Acta Metall Sin, 2026, 62(6): 1082-1090.

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Abstract  

The cyclic damage behavior of TC4 alloy, which is widely utilized in aerospace and other fields, is critical to the structural integrity of its components. The aim of this study is to elucidate the underlying microstructural damage mechanisms, from the aspect of microstructural evolution, slip activity, and dislocation configurations, during cyclic loading through advanced characterization techniques including EBSD and TEM. The results indicate an initial rapid hardening stage, during which strain is highly localized in microtextured regions due to deformation incompatibility with the surrounding grains. The material subsequently reaches a quasi-steady state, which is marked by accumulated plasticity. Influenced by crystallographic texture and loading direction, the pyramidal 101¯1<c + a> slip system exhibits the highest Schmid factor and is preferentially activated, dominating the deformation process and promoting a gradual grain reorientation toward the <112¯0> direction. TEM analysis indicates that dislocations multiply and align parallel to α/β phase interfaces during cyclic deformation. These interfaces function as both dislocation sources and barriers, thereby enhancing the material's fatigue life. The synergistic coupling between dislocation activity at α/β interfaces and pronounced strain localization within microtextured regions is identified as the dominant mechanism governing cyclic deformation damage in TC4 alloy.

Key words:  titanium alloy      cyclic deformation      microtexture      slip mechanism      dislocation     
Received:  24 October 2025     
ZTFLH:  TG142.71  
Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(52375527);National Natural Science Foundation of China(52275520)
Corresponding Authors:  LUO Zhongbing, professor, Tel: (0411)84706049, E-mail: zhbluo@dlut.edu.cn

URL: 

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00339     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2026/V62/I6/1082

Fig.1  Geometry of cyclic test specimen of TC4 alloy (unit: mm)
Fig.2  Initial microstructure (a) and XRD patterns (b) of TC4 alloy
Fig.3  Cyclic loading response of TC4 alloy
(a) stress-strain hysteresis loops (N—loading cycle) (b) plastic strain amplitude (εpa) vs loading cycle
Fig.4  Microstructural evolutions of TC4 alloy at 0th cyc (a, e, i), 100th cyc (b, f, j), 500th cyc (c, g, k), and 5000th cyc (d, h, l) (a-d) LSCM surface morphologies (PSB—persistent slip band) (e-h) inverse pole figure (IPF) maps, with the MTRs (Zone I) and a reference small grain (Zone II) of identical orientation (MTR—microtextured region) (i-l) kernel average misorientation (KAM) maps
Fig.5  Average KAM (mKAM) and variance of KAM (vKAM) at different loading cycles for TC4 alloy
Fig.6  Evolutions of band contrast (BC) in different regions of TC4 alloy at different loading cycles
Fig.7  X0-direction IPFs at 0th cyc (a), 100th cyc (b), 500th cyc (c), and 5000th cyc (d); and grain orientation schematic (e) in TC4 alloy
Fig.8  Schmid factor evolutions of slip systems in cyclically deformed TC4 alloy (AVG—average of schmid factor)
(a) basal <a> slip (b) prismatic <a> slip (c) pyramidal <a> slip
(d) pyramidal 1st <c + a> slip (e) pyramidal 2nd <c + a> slip
Fig.9  Schematics of slip mechanism in α phase of TC4 alloy
(a) basal <a> slip (b) prismatic <a> slip (c) pyramidal <a> slip
(d) pyramidal 1st <c + a> slip (e) pyramidal 2nd <c + a> slip
Fig.10  Low (a, c) and high (b, d) magnified TEM images of TC4 alloy sample at initial state (a, b) and after 5000 cyc (c, d) (Insets in Figs.10b and c show the SAED patterns; inset in Fig.10d shows the dislocations)
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