Mechanical Behavior of Cryomilled CP-Ti Consolidated via Quasi-Isostatic Forging

Abstract

Commercially pure (CP) Ti (Grade 2 with chemical composition 0.190 wt pct O, 0.0165 wt pct N, 0.0030 wt pct C, and 0.013 wt pct Fe) was cryomilled in liquid argon and liquid nitrogen for 8 hours. The influence of the milling environment on the chemistry, grain size, and grain-boundary structure of CP-Ti was studied by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and chemical analysis. The results show that the final average grain size obtained after 8 hours of cryomilling was ∼20 nm, for both liquid nitrogen and liquid argon cryomilling environments. Grains were observed to be heavily deformed and they did not reveal well-defined boundaries between them. Liquid nitrogen and liquid argon cryomilling environments led to differences in the final powder chemistry. Cryomilling in liquid nitrogen resulted in Ti powders with ∼2 wt pct nitrogen, which caused embrittlement that in turn affected the mechanical behavior of the consolidated materials. Cryomilling in liquid argon resulted in powders with slightly higher oxygen levels than those from liquid nitrogen experiments; this was attributed to the use of stearic acid (CH3(CH2)16COOH) as a process control agent (PCA). The cryomilled powders, in the form of various compositional blends from the argon and nitrogen milling experiments, were subsequently consolidated via quasi-isostatic (QI) forging, for mechanical behavior studies. The mechanical testing results showed that the QI-forged 85 pct as-received +15 pct liquid-argon-cryomilled powder blend exhibited ∼30 pct elongation to fracture, with a yield strength (YS) of 601 MPa and an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 711 MPa. In the case of 100 pct liquid-argon-cryomilled and QI-forged material, the YS, UTS, and elongation values were 947 and 995 MPa and 4.32 pct, respectively. The mechanical behavior was discussed in terms of the operative microstructure mechanisms. The enhanced ductility noted in the blended powders was discussed in terms of the presence of a bimodal microstructure.