Microtextures and grain boundary misorientation distributions in controlled heat input titanium alloy fusion welds

Abstract

Microstructures, macrotextures and microtextures in commercial purity titanium and Ti-6Al–4V fusion welds produced by the InterPulse gas tungsten constricted arc welding (GTCAW) technique have been characterised. At the cooling rates associated with the InterPulse technique, α variants sharing a common pole are found to cluster together into groups within prior β grains, leading to large areas where all variants are separated by a misorientation of 60°. These present potential easy slip paths, hence increasing the "effective structural unit size." Characterisation of these microtextures may provide new insight into microtexture-properties relations and the mechanisms of microtextural evolution.