Characterization of microstructure and strain response in Ti–6Al–4V plasma welding deposited material by combined EBSD and in-situ tensile test

Additive layer manufacturing (ALM) of aerospace grade titanium components shows great promise in supplying a cost-effective alternative to the conventional production routes. Complex microstructures comprised of columnar remnants of directionally solidified β-grains, with interior inhabited by colonies of finer α-plate structures, were found in samples produced by layered plasma welding of Ti–6Al–4V alloy. The application of in-situ tensile tests combined with rapid offline electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis provides a powerful tool for understanding and drawing qualitative correlations between microstructural features and deformation characteristics. Non-uniform deformation occurs due to a strong variation in strain response between colonies and across columnar grain boundaries. Prismatic and basal slip systems are active, with the prismatic systems contributing to the most severe deformation through coarse and widely spaced slip lines. Certain colonies behave as microstructural units, with easy slip transmission across the entire colony. Other regions exhibit significant deformation mismatch, with local build-up of strain gradients and stress concentration. The segmentation occurs due to the growth morphology and variant constraints imposed by the columnar solidification structures through orientation relationships, interface alignment and preferred growth directions. Tensile tests perpendicular to columnar structures reveal deformation localization at columnar grain boundaries. In this work connections are made between the theoretical macro- and microstructural growth mechanisms and the observed microstructure of the Ti–6Al–4V alloy, which in turn is linked to observations during in-situ tensile tests.