Impact of the initial microstructure and the loading conditions on the deformation behavior of the Ti17 titanium alloy

In this work, the impact of the microstructure and the loading conditions on the mechanical behavior of a β-rich Ti17 titanium alloy is investigated. For this purpose, two different initial microstructures are considered : (i) a two-phase lamellar α + β microstructure and (ii) a single-phase equiaxed β-treated microstructure. First, compression tests are performed at different strain rates (from $$10^-1$$ to 10 s−1) and different temperatures (from 25 to $$900\,^\circ $$C) for both microstructures. Then, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, EBSD and X-ray diffraction analyses of deformed specimens are carried out. Whatever the loading conditions are, the flow stress of the as-received α + β Ti17 is higher than that of the β-treated Ti17. Also, because of a higher strain-rate sensitivity, the β-treated Ti17 is less prone to shear banding. At low temperatures (i.e., $$T \le 450\,^\circ $$C), the deformation behavior of both the as-received α + β and the β-treated Ti17 is controlled by strain hardening. For the β-treated Ti17 alloy, martensitic transformation is systematically detected in this temperature range. The softening behavior of the as-received α + β Ti17 observed at high temperatures is due to the joint effect of dynamic recrystallization, dynamic transformation, adiabatic heating and morphological texture evolution. For the β-treated Ti17 alloy, when the temperature exceeds $$700\,^\circ $$C, stress–strain curves display a yield drop phenomenon, which is explained by dynamic recrystallization.