Investigation on the deformation mechanism of Ti–5Al-2.5Sn ELI titanium alloy at cryogenic and room temperatures

In order to investigate the influence of service temperature on the mechanical properties of Ti–5Al-2.5Sn ELI titanium alloy, the tensile tests were performed on the polycrystalline Ti–5Al-2.5Sn ELI titanium alloy samples under a wide temperature range from 20 K to 300 K. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) tests were conducted to analyze the fracture behavior evolution, crystallographic orientation, grain boundary characterization and dislocation configuration of the samples. Besides, the deformation mechanism of Ti–5Al-2.5Sn ELI titanium alloy was also thoroughly investigated. Experimental results indicate that the Ti–5Al-2.5Sn ELI titanium alloy displays the single dislocation slipping deformation behavior at room temperature, whereas the coupling of dislocation slipping and twinning deformation behaviors dominate at the cryogenic temperature. The twinning deformation improves the plastic deformation capacity of Ti–5Al-2.5Sn ELI titanium alloy by coordinating the crystallographic orientation, promoting the boundary rotating and the dislocation slipping abilities, which induces the acceptable low-temperature elongation and occurs frequently with the decreasing test temperature. On the other hand, the dislocation strengthening effect resulting from a large number of dislocation structures also contributes to promoting the ultimate tensile strength of the Ti–5Al-2.5Sn ELI titanium alloy under cryogenic temperature.