A Zr-45Ti-54Al-3V alloy with excellent elevated temperature mechanical properties: Millimeter-scale coarse grains with initial subgrains

Abstract

For improved elevated temperature mechanical properties, a Zr-45Ti-54Al-3V alloy with initial subgrains microstructure and millimeter-scale coarse grains is prepared herein via an electric field-assisted high-temperature compression process at temperatures of 1200 °C and 1400 °C. After the treatment at 1400 °C, the tensile strength and elongation of the alloy at 500 °C are increased by 25.2% and 21.7%, respectively, compared with those of the as-forged 47Zr. Both treatment temperatures lead to a compressive strength of 1400 MPa, along with good elevated temperature compression deformation ability. The rapid grain growth is attributed to the promotion of atomic diffusion by the pulsed current, which also results in a uniform distribution of each solute element. The dynamic recovery and continuous dynamic recrystallization during hot deformation are the main reason of elevated temperature plasticity improvement of EFHC sample. The elevated temperature strength of EFHC sample is higher than that of as-forged sample because it has more α phase and LAGB than as-forged sample