Mechanical characterisation of V-4Cr-4Ti alloy: Tensile tests under high energy synchrotron diffraction

•The single crystal elastic constants of V44 were determined at several temperatures•V44’s elastic response was isotropic up to 550°C, becoming anisotropic at 700°C•V44 elastic constants were calculated by DFT with short-range order effects•DFT results showed the importance of lattice constant and alloying elements Cr/Ti Vanadium base alloys represent potentially promising candidate structural materials for use in nuclear fusion reactors due to vanadium's low activity, high thermal strength, and good swelling resistance. In this work, the mechanical properties of the current frontrunner vanadium base alloy, V-4Cr-4Ti, have been interrogated using in-situ high energy X-ray diffraction (XRD) tensile testing at varying temperatures. The single crystal elastic constants of the samples were determined from the in-situ XRD data and used to evaluate results from density functional theory calculations. Polycrystalline elastic properties and Zener anisotropy were calculated from the single crystal elastic constants produced, revealing the effect of elevated temperature on the alloy's elastic properties. These results characterise important thermomechanical properties, valuable in mechanical modelling, that will allow further and improved analysis of the structural suitability of V-4Cr-4Ti ahead of alloy adoption in the mainstream.