Improvement of Mechanical Properties for a Novel Zr–Ti–V Alloy via Hot-Rolling and Annealing Treatment

Abstract

In this experiment, an annealing treatment was carried out for a rolled Zr–Ti–8V alloy, and the toughening mechanism of the material was thoroughly analyzed by combining advanced material characterization and other testing methods. The phase composition of the Zr–Ti–8V alloy was sensitive to the applied annealing temperature, while a series of changes in the phase composition of the alloy were induced by enforcing bigger thermal budgets. Implementing a temperature value of 450 °C led to a higher α-phase content, in striking contrast with the case where a lower annealing temperature of 400 °C was applied. The β grains that were stretched in the alloy’s rolling direction and annealed at 600 °C to 800 °C were recrystallized. As a result, the acquired configuration was equiaxed with β grains. The extracted results revealed that the alloy annealed at 450 °C showed a good strong–plastic ratio, with tensile strength and elongation of 1040 MPa and 8.2%, respectively. In addition, the alloy annealed at 700–800 °C showed good plasticity properties. From the hardness tests and friction wear experiments on all the experimental alloys, it was demonstrated that the dual-phase alloy with α + β had higher hardness and wear resistance, whereas the opposite trend was observed for the single β-phase alloy.