Comparison of Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Annealed and Quenched Ti-Nb Alloys
The effect of Nb content on microstructure, mechanical properties and phase formation in annealed and quenched binary Ti-Nb alloys were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The content of Nb varied in the range 0-37 mass % leading to significant changes in the microstructure. The annealed and furnace-cooled binary Ti-Nb samples exhibited HCP martensitic α` phase at a Nb content below 14 mass % and stable BCC β phase at higher contents of Nb. The structure of the quenched samples changed with increase of Nb content in the following order: coarse primary martensite → fine acicular (α`+α``) martensite → single β phase structure. The mechanical properties of alloys strongly depended on the Nb content and type of the dominating phase.