Mechanical Behaviour of Beta Titanium Alloys

Abstract

Beta titanium alloys have several attractive features; this has resulted in this group of alloys receiving much attention since 1980’s. Among the attributes which distinguish them for their superiority over other structural materials are (i) high strength to which they can be heat treated, resulting in high strength to weight ratio (ii) high degree of hardenability which enables heat treatment in large section sizes to high strength levels (iii) excellent hot and cold workability, making them as competitive sheet materials etc. The standard heat treatment consists of solution treatment in beta or alpha plus beta phase field followed by aging. However, certain aging treatments can render the materials in a state of little or no ductility; the designer has to be aware of this behaviour and has to keep away from such treatments while working with the materials. Such unfavourable aging treatments may adversely affect not only the static properties such as reduction in area and elongation in a tensile test, but also dynamic properties such as impact toughness. Results of fractographic studies are in line with those of mechanical testing. The authors would present the foregoing analysis, based primarily on the wide-ranging researches they carried out on beta titanium alloy Ti15-3 and to some extent data published by researchers on other grades of beta titanium alloys. An attempt is made to explain the mechanisms underlying the embrittlement reactions that take place in beta titanium alloys under non-optimal aging treatments.