Temperature dependence of indentation behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy for bio medical applications

Abstract

Numerical analysis of spherical indentation was carried out to study temperature dependence (300-673K) of elasto-plastic deformation behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Flow stress and strain hardening exponent ‘n’ were determined from load versus indenter penetration depth profiles generated through FE model using Dao’s reverse analysis approach. The upward flow around the residual impression as a function of average strain, which describes the strain hardening behaviour of the alloys was also investigated. The simulated values of CF have been used to predict high strain-rate plastic flow behavior considering indentation data. It was observed that there is a good correlation between data from simulation and experimental results in the literature. The FE model developed in the current investigation can be used for simulating the flow behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The temperature dependent CF value in the fully plastic regime from the current study is approximately 2.69 against experimentally evaluated value of 2.95. Meyer’s hardness is generally high due to the presence of cold layer resulting from grinding and polishing of the test specimen. Absence of such effects in simulation of spherical indentation resulted in reduced value of CF.