Thermal Stability and Recrystallization of Titanium Grade 4 with Ultrafine-Grained Structure

The paper examined annealing behavior of ultrafine-grained Ti Grade 4. The ultrafine-grained microstructure was produced by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) technique by using a Conform scheme and was characterized by a mean grain size of d=0.3 μm and non-equilibrium grain boundaries. The ultrafine-grained structure was found to be stable up to 400°C. The excellent thermal stability was attributed to a strain-ageing, i.e., the enhanced diffusion of interstitial solutes resulting in a formation of solute atmospheres at/near grain boundaries and dislocations. At 450–500°C, a rapid growth of strain-free grains was observed to occur. This process eliminated severely-deformed microstructure and gave rise to abrupt material softening. A further increase of the annealing temperature above 600°С resulted in precipitation of lenticular dispersoids as well as iron-rich globular β-particles. This surprising phenomenon promoted a subtle hardening effect.