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Abstract

The mechanical properties of titanium and titanium alloys are very sensitive to processing, microstructure, and impurity levels. In this paper, a blended powder mixture of Ti-6Al-4V alloy was consolidated by powder compact extrusion that involved warm compaction, vacuum sintering, and hot extrusion. The as-processed material with an oxygen content of 0.34 wt.% was subjected to various annealing treatments. The impact toughness of heat-treated material was determined using Charpy V-notch impact testing at room temperature. An emphasis was placed on establishing a relationship among fracture behaviour, microstructure, and the resulting properties of tested material. From the results, it is apparent that the highest impact toughness value of 19.3 J was achieved after α/β annealing and is comparable with typical values given in the literature for wrought Ti-6Al-4V. In terms of fracture behaviour, it is quite apparent that the crack propagation behaviour of powder-produced material is rather complex compared with the limited amount of data reported for ingot counterparts.

In this study, a Ti-6Al-4V matrix composite reinforced with in situ synthesized TiB whiskers has been successfully produced from wasted chips by a cost-effective powder metallurgy route combining rapid heating and hot pressing. The effect of boron powder addition (1 vol.%, 3 vol.%, 5 vol.%, and 7 vol.%) on phase constituents, microstructures, and mechanical properties of the fabricated composites was investigated. Additionally, the effect of two different post-heat treatments on the 3 vol.% boron-containing composites was also explored. The results show that the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) of the composite first increase when the content of boron is less than 3 vol.%, and then start to decrease with the further increase of boron content. The TiB reinforcement layers change from discontinuous to quasi-continuous and then to continuous with increasing boron content, which is attributed to a higher fraction of agglomerated TiB reinforcement phases. The composites with 1 vol.% (UTS of 1085 MPa, strain to fracture of 5.83%) and 3 vol.% (UTS of 1127 MPa, strain to fracture of 3.98%) boron powder addition show optimized tensile properties. The mechanical properties of 3 vol.% boron-containing composites are not significantly improved after heat treatment. Our experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating low-cost, high-performance titanium alloy matrix composites from Ti-6Al-4V machining chips. It can serve as a promising and cost-effective method to directly utilize Ti-6Al-4V chips to fabricate strong and ductile Ti-6Al-4V composites for niche applications.

Significant amount of Ti-5553 alloy (a near-beta titanium alloy) swarf is produced during the daily operation of manufacturing high strength titanium alloy components used in industry. However, the direct use of the produced swarf is seldom investigated and reported. In this paper, hot pressing was used to recycle Ti-5553 machining swarf to turn the waste into useful material. The hot-pressed Ti-5553 alloy has an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 675 ± 12 MPa, strain to fracture of 0.98 ± 0.04%, and bending strength of 1181±28 MPa. After double-aging at 600 ºC for 4 h followed by 700 ºC for 0.5 h, both strength and ductility of hot-pressed Ti-5553 alloy have a significantly improved, with a yield strength (YS) of 1390 ± 20 MPa, UTS of 1425 ± 12 MPa, a strain to fracture of 2.47 ± 0.07%, and a bending strength 2565±35 MPa. These results demonstrate the hot pressing is a viable processing route to recycle Ti-5553 swarf to cost-effectively produce a qualified solid material for post-processing and engineering applications.