Effect of crystallographic texture on the isothermal beta grain-growth kinetics of Ti–6Al–4V

Abstract

The effect of crystallographic texture on the kinetics of grain growth during isothermal beta annealing of Ti–6Al–4V was established. For this purpose, samples were subjected to a thermomechanical process to produce material with a uniform, fine equiaxed-alpha microstructure with either a strong or weak (110) beta-phase texture. Grain growth measurements revealed that the classical isothermal grain-growth relation was incapable of describing the observations. Specifically, the grain-growth exponent n was found to have a strong dependence on temperature. In addition, the phenomenon of discontinuous grain growth, or a stagnation in the growth behavior at short times, was documented and ascribed to changes in texture during the grain-growth process.