Effect of β grain growth on variant selection and texture memory effect during α → β → α phase transformation in Ti-6 Al-4 V

In the present study, the texture evolution and the role of β grain growth on variant selection during β → α phase transformation have been investigated in Ti-6 Al-4 V with and without 0.4 wt.% yttrium addition. The aim of adding yttrium was to control β grain growth above the β transus by pinning grain boundaries with yttria. Both materials were first thermomechanically processed to generate similar starting microstructures and crystallographic textures. Subsequently, both materials were solution-heat-treated above the β transus followed by slow cooling to promote growth of the α lath structure from grain boundary α. Additional interrupted slow cooling experiments were carried out to identify the α lamellae that nucleate first from β grain boundaries. Detailed electron backscatter diffraction analysis was carried out and it was found that the β heat treatment did not generate new texture components although the intensities of the individual components changed dramatically depending on the alloy/β grain size. Variant selection was assessed by comparing measured α texture components with predicted α texture components based on the high-temperature β texture assuming equal variant selection. It was found that with increasing β grain size variant selection intensified favouring the {φ1, Φ, φ2} {90°, 30°, 0°} texture component. Interrupted cooling experiments revealed that α nucleates first on β grain boundaries that are formed by two β grains having a common (1 1 0) normal and that these α lamellae display almost exclusively a {φ1, Φ, φ2} {90°, 30°, 0°} orientation. Consequently, the dominance of this variant with increasing β grain size can be related to the relative free growth of this particular α texture component into an “empty” β grain.