In-situ scanning electron microscopy (sem) observations of the tensile and tensile-creep deformation of Titanium-8Aluminum-1mo-1v (wt.%) alloy

Titanium (Ti) and titanium alloys (Ti alloys) are attractive for structural applications, such as in the aerospace and automotive industries due to their high specific strength, excellent corrosion resistance and good ability to withstand elevated temperatures. To develop Ti alloys with better mechanical properties, it is necessary to comprehend the deformation behavior of available Ti alloys.Previous studies performed by another graduate student, Dr. Hongmei Li, involved investigation of the deformation behavior of commercially pure (CP) Ti, Ti-5Al-2.5Sn (wt.%), Ti-3Al-2.5V (wt.%) and Ti-6Al-4V (wt.%) alloys. The current thesis focused on investigating the deformation behavior of Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V (wt.%). In-situ tensile and tensile-creep experiments were performed at temperatures ranging from room temperature (RT) to 650OC inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM), which allowed for the observation of the surface deformation evolution. Electron Back Scattered Diffraction (EBSD) was used to identify the distribution of the active deformation systems.In this thesis efforts were made to characterize the various deformation modes of the Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V (wt.%) alloy as a function of the testing conditions (stress and temperature). It was observed that prismatic slip made up the majority of the observed slip systems during the RT tensile deformation, while basal and prismatic slip were almost equally active during the 455OC tensile deformation. Grain boundary ledges were observed during the elevated temperature tensile-creep deformation and from this observation it was suggested that grain boundary sliding was an active deformation mode. This work also involved estimating the Critical Resolved Shear Stress (CRSS) ratios of the α-phase deformation modes. The CRSS ratios were compared with the CRSS ratios of CP Ti and other Ti alloys. Overall, this work was intended to add more data to the scientific literature of Ti alloys in order to better comprehend their deformation modes, so as to design and develop higher performance Ti alloys.