Formation of Large Size Precipitate-Free Zones in β Annealing of the Near-β Ti-55531 Titanium Alloy

Large size (>10000 μm2) precipitate-free zones in the absence of microsegregation were observed in the near-β Ti-55531 titanium alloy after furnace cooling from high temperature and longtime annealing in the single-β phase field. To reveal the formation mechanism of the large size precipitate-free zone, continuous cooling and isothermal heat treatment were carried out to investigate the β-α phase transformation process. It was found that the large size precipitate free zone is attributed to the heterogeneous nucleation of α phase. The nucleation site evolves in three different modes: I-random nucleation inside the β grain, II-network nucleation inside the β grain and, III-heterogeneous nucleation on the precipitated α phase. Modes I and II lead to homogeneous transformed structure while Mode III results in the large size precipitate-free zone. Both modes II and III are promoted at high annealing temperature, rapid cooling above 600 °C or slow cooling below 600 °C. Mode II is common as it can minimize the strain energy in phase transformation. As a result, the formation of the large size precipitate-free zone is not deterministic.

Ageing Processes of Li-Containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloys

1.1%Li was added to 7075 alloys to obtain the Li-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys. The microstructure and hardness of the alloys are investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Vickers hardness. The hardness of the single-aged alloys is low. When the alloys were double-aged or multi-aged, the hardness is comparable to that of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys at peak ageing. Two peaks were present in the hardness curves of the multi-aged Li-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys. With the last-step temperature increases, two-peak phenomenon becomes prominent. The density and size of precipitates are influenced remarkedly by the ageing processes. Coarse grain boundary precipitates and PFZ (precipitate free zone)can be observed when the Li-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys were multi-aged, and the higher the last-step ageing temperature, the wider the PFZ is.