Influence of Processing Conditions on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Large Thin-Wall Centrifugal Ti-6Al-4V Casting

In this work, the effects of mould pre-heating temperatures and hot isostatic pressing （HIPping） process on the microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties, including static tensile and damage- tolerance properties of large thin-wall cylindrical Ti-6Al-4V casting, have been studied. The experimental results show that with the increasing mould pre-heating temperature from 673 to 873 K, the casting mi- crostructures change from a mixture of Widmanstatten and colony microstructure to a primary colony. The centre of the thick wall section has relatively coarse microstructure than the edge and thin section. Lower mould pre-heating temperature brings about more porosities. HIPping process, which not only reduces the casting pores effectively but also increases the prior β grain boundary cohesion and coars- ens the microstructure, is essential to improving the ductility of the casting. Due to the oxygen contamination and finer microstructure on the surface, micro-hardness profiles on the cross section present a decreas- ing tendency from the surface to inner. The thickness of the reaction layers for the different mould pre-heating temperatures is nearly the same （-450 μm）. On the whole, the tensile strength and micro- hardness decrease with increasing mould pre-heating temperature from 673 to 873 K. However, the fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth resistance of the castings increase with increasing mould pre- heating temperature.