On characterization of deformation microstructure in Boron modified Ti–6Al–4V alloy

Addition of boron in small quantities to various titanium alloys have shown significant improvement in mechanical behavior of materials. In the present study, electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) techniques have been applied to investigate the deformation microstructure evolution in boron modified two-phase titanium alloy Ti–6Al–4V. The alloy was hot compressed at 750 °C up to 50% height reduction at two different strain rates (10−3 s−1 and 1 s−1). The EBSD analyses indicated significant differences in deformed microstructure of the base alloy and the alloy containing boron. A strong subgrain formation tendency was observed along with inhomogeneous distribution of dislocations inside large α colonies of Ti64. In contrast, α colonies were relatively strain free for Ti64 + B, with more uniform dislocation density distribution. The observed difference is attributed to microstructural modifications viz. grain size refinement and presence of TiB particles at grain boundary produced due to boron addition.