The effect of microstructure and texture on mechanical properties of Ti6-4

The widely used titanium alloy, Ti6-4, is available in several different microstructural conditions, with variations being due to a number of factors including processing route and subsequent heat treatments. These differing microstructures can produce significant variations in the fatigue life of the material and as such it is essential that predictions can be made about the fatigue performance based on the microstructural condition. The paper examines six microstructural variations of Ti6-4 and seeks to identify trends within strain control data, and the subsequent effect on notched specimen behaviour, used to characterise the effect of stress raising features in engineering applications.