An experimental and theoretical investigation of the low temperature creep deformation behavior of single phase titanium alloys

Titanium alloys are used for many applications due to their desirable properties, including its high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. Titanium alloys are used extensively for aerospace, chemical, nuclear, industrial, biomedical, and consumer applications. In many applications, titanium components may be subject to stresses for extended periods of time. It has long been known that single-phase hexagonally close-packed (HCP) alpha and body-centered cubic (BCC) beta titanium alloys deform over time, or creep, at low temperatures (<0.25*Tm). As such, creep is an important factor to consider when assessing the structural reliability of titanium components. However, the factors that affect creep behavior such as grain size and alloy chemistry and the deformation mechanisms associated with creep such as slip and twinning are not well understood. The aim of this investigation is to experimentally and theoretically study the creep deformation behavior of single-phase alpha and beta titanium alloys.; The first part of the investigation concerns alpha-Ti alloys. The low temperature creep behavior was studied experimentally, using alpha-Ti-1.6wt.%V as the model alloy. Creep testing was performed at a range of temperatures and slip and twinning were identified as creep deformation mechanisms by optical, SEM and TEM microscopy. The activation energy for creep was measured for the first time for an alpha-Ti than deforms by twinning. The activation energy was found to increase as a function of creep strain, suggesting that there is a change in the predominant deformation mechanism from slip at low strain to twinning at high strain. The reason for this change is explained by a model for twin nucleation caused by dislocation pileups. The theoretical aspect of the study of alpha-Ti, concerns the phenomenon of slow twin growth (time-dependent twinning) during low temperature creep. This phenomenon is unusual and poorly understood as twins in bulk, polycrystalline metals are expected to grow very fast. It was suggested that interstitial atoms, particularly oxygen could be responsible for time-dependent twinning but there were no models to explain this. As such, crystallographic models were developed for the HCP-lattice of alpha-Ti to show how the octahedral interstitial sites where atoms such as oxygen can reside are eliminated by the atomic movements associated with twinning. As such, the rate of twin growth, and in turn the creep strain rate is controlled by the diffusion of oxygen away from these eliminated sites.; The second part of the investigation builds on experimental work from a previous investigation to extend the theoretical model for time-dependent twinning to the BCC lattice of beta-Ti. Similar to the case for alpha-Ti alloys, twin growth is rate limited by the diffusion of oxygen atoms away from eliminated interstitial sites.; The results of these findings are very valuable when designing Ti alloys for improved creep resistance and mechanical reliability. This is critical because creep can directly alter dimensional tolerances and creep deformation products can contribute to crack nucleation leading to catastrophic failure.; This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DMR-0513751.