A microstructural based constitutive approach for simulating hot deformation of Ti6Al4V alloy in the α + β phase region

As one of the most mature titanium alloys, Ti6Al4V is widely used in many critical aerospace applications. However, the flow behavior of this alloy cannot be easily predicted using general computational models, mainly due to the existence of various microstructural morphology in titanium alloys and relatively complex deformation mechanisms during hot deformation. Principally, the variation in initial grain morphology and grain size/plate thickness significantly influences microstructural evolution during hot working, thus leading to dissimilar work hardening and related softening behaviors. In the current study, a microstructural based Estrin Mecking (EM) +Avrami model was developed and used to model the deformation behavior of Ti6Al4V alloy with different initial grain morphologies (i.e. equiaxed vs martensitic) during simulative hot compression testing in the α + β phase region. Herein, the effect of initial grain size was considered as a function of Hall-Petch strengthening, where experimental validation revealed very good accuracy on predicting the work hardening behavior, peak stress, peak strain and flow softening with varying grain morphologies. In addition, the current model was extended to predict the material flow behavior of Ti6Al4V alloy during bulk metallic deformation (i.e. forging) in 3D as an FEM based simulation tool.