High-Strength Near-Beta Titanium Alloy Fabricated by Direct Hot Pressing of the Machining Swarf

Abstract

Significant amount of Ti-5553 alloy (a near-beta titanium alloy) swarf is produced during the daily operation of manufacturing high strength titanium alloy components used in industry. However, the direct use of the produced swarf is seldom investigated and reported. In this paper, hot pressing was used to recycle Ti-5553 machining swarf to turn the waste into useful material. The hot-pressed Ti-5553 alloy has an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 675 ± 12 MPa, strain to fracture of 0.98 ± 0.04%, and bending strength of 1181±28 MPa. After double-aging at 600 ºC for 4 h followed by 700 ºC for 0.5 h, both strength and ductility of hot-pressed Ti-5553 alloy have a significantly improved, with a yield strength (YS) of 1390 ± 20 MPa, UTS of 1425 ± 12 MPa, a strain to fracture of 2.47 ± 0.07%, and a bending strength 2565±35 MPa. These results demonstrate the hot pressing is a viable processing route to recycle Ti-5553 swarf to cost-effectively produce a qualified solid material for post-processing and engineering applications.