Alloy composition dependency of plastic deformation behavior in biaxial compressions of Ti-Nb alloys

Crystal structure of titanium alloy changes from alpha (hexagonal close-packed) to beta (body centered cubic) with increase of beta stabilizer content. This change of structure strongly influences on the plastic deformation behavior of titanium alloys, because it not only induces changes of slip systems but also activates martensitic transformation and deformation twinning. However, most of past studies on titanium alloys have been focused on the development of specific functionalities induced by alloy designing, and few research works have been reported on metal workability under multi-axial stress conditions, which is key factor to apply titanium alloys for engineering products. In this study, uniaxial and biaxial compression tests of titanium-niobium alloys with various niobium contents have been performed to clarify the influence of beta stabilizer content on the plastic behavior under compressive stress conditions. The titaniumniobium alloys were solution treated and then quenched from beta region to obtain metastable structures. The resultant stress-strain relations together with microscopic observations of texture revealed that the influence of niobium contents on the predominant plastic deformation mechanisms and thus on the hardening phenomena. The equi-plastic work contours obtained by uniaxial and biaxial compression tests also implied the crystal structure dependency of anisotropic hardening, which was evaluated quantitatively by means of Hill's anisotropic yield criterion. The results will provide information on the versatile constitutive relations of titanium alloys containing beta stabilizer elements, that is important to prove the performance of products manufactured by compressive metal working processes such as forging and extrusion.