Mechanical Behavior of Metastable β Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al Alloy with and without Presence of α Phase

A combination of digital image correlation during uniaxial tensile testing with electron microscopy characterization of microstructure is used to study the details of mechanical behavior of the Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al (wt%) alloy with α phase amount variation from 0 to 20%. Although the triggering stress for deformation‐induced α″ martensite formation has increased and the extent of transformation reduced with an increase in α phase fraction, the deformation mechanism has not changed. The α″ martensite transformation starts from the initiation of single variants of martensite at grain boundaries and/or α/β interfaces in favorably oriented toward deformation axis β grains. It follows by self‐accommodation of strain by α″ martensite via formation of grids and V‐shaped arrangements of {111}_α″ type I twins at higher tensile strains.