Materials Transactions, Vol. 53, No. 1 (2012) pp.

173 to 178

2011 The Japan Institute of Metals

Effects of Short-Time Solution Treatment on Cold Workability

of Ti6Al4V Alloy
Tatsuro Morita and Kenji Murakami+
Department of Mechanical & System Engineering, Graduate School, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of short-time solution treatment on the cold workability of + titanium alloy Ti6Al
4V. In this treatment, the titanium alloy was heated at 10981223 K for 1 s and then water-quenched. The cold workability, such as deep
drawability and bendability, was improved through a short-time solution treatment because the yield ratio (yield strength/tensile strength)
decreased, while the ductility simultaneously increased. The results of the X-ray diffraction, TEM observation, and selected area electron
diffraction suggested that the improvement in the cold workability was the result of stress-induced transformations in both the martensite
phase and the metastable phase. Furthermore, the short-time aging effect was investigated on the material solution-treated at 1148 K for 1 s and
pre-deformed to a 16.7% strain. The results showed that the yield strength recovered and then exceeded the original strength level through shorttime aging. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M2011182]
(Received July 14, 2011; Accepted October 27, 2011; Published December 14, 2011)
Keywords: titanium alloy, titanium6aluminum4vanadium, short-time solution treatment, cold workability, ductility, yield ratio, stress-induced
transformation, short-time aging, yield strength

1.

Introduction

Ti6Al4V alloy is a typical + titanium alloy that

possesses high specic tensile strength (tensile strength/
density) as well as excellent corrosion resistance and good
heat resistance. This titanium alloy has been widely used in
the aerospace industry in which the weight of products is the
primary issue. According to Ref. 1), 56% of the titanium
market in the USA, where the aerospace industry is very
active, was actually occupied by Ti6Al4V alloy (1998).
This indicates the impact of the improvement in the strength
and workability of Ti6Al4V alloy.
In previous studies,25) the effect of short-time duplex heat
treatment was investigated to improve the strength of Ti
6Al4V alloy. This heat treatment was composed of a rst
heat treatment at 1203 K for 60 s (water quenching) and
a second heat treatment at 803 K for 40 s (air cooling).
Hereafter, the rst and second heat treatments are respectively called short-time solution treatment, and short-time
aging. The results showed that the tensile strength and the
fatigue strength of the titanium alloy markedly improved by
29 and 22%, respectively, without seeing a reduction in the
ductility. Based on an investigation of the microstructure, it
was concluded that the above improvement in the strength
was a result of the formation of the acicular martensite
phase and the ne phase in the prior phase. At the same
time, it was believed that the ductility was maintained by
stress-induced transformation of the metastable phase in the
prior phase.
On the other hand, Ti6Al4V alloy has an inherent
disadvantage concerning cold workability. In a related
study,6) it was found that the ductility of the titanium alloy
greatly increased, and in contrast, the yield strength decreased as a result of short-time solution treatment, which was
carried out at a relatively low temperature below 1173 K.
Although this result was insignicant from the standpoint of
+

Present address: Kobe Steel Ltd., Takasago 676-8670, Japan

improving the strength, it suggested that short-time solution

treatment will improve the cold workability.
From the above background, the effects of short-time
solution treatment on the cold workability of Ti6Al4V
alloy were carefully investigated. To nd a suitable treatment
condition, the Erichsen test and a bend test, etc., were
conducted on the short-time solution-treated material.
Furthermore, the effect of short-time aging was investigated
on the recovery of yield strength to the original strength level.
2.

Materials and Experimental Procedures

2.1

Short-time solution treatment and experimental

procedures
Table 1 shows the chemical composition of a Ti6Al4V
alloy used in this study. This material was heat-treated at
1003 K for 4.5 ks, and then air-cooled before the material was
accepted. The original shape was a thin plate with a thickness
of 0.6 mm. The plates were machined to become one of the
three types of specimens shown in Fig. 1. After a short-time
solution treatment, the test sections of all the specimens,
except the specimens used in the Erichsen test and the bend
test, were polished to mirror nish with emery papers and
alumina powders.
The specimens for the hardness measurement were solution-treated at 10981223 K for 1, 10, and 60 s (pre-heating
time: 60 s), and then water-quenched. The micro-Vickers
hardness was measured on the polished surface ve times
under a test force of 0.98 N. The average of the measured
values was used for the result of each material.
Short-time solution treatment was performed at 1098
1223 K for 1 s on the specimens that were used for the

Table 1

Chemical composition of Ti6Al4V alloy (mass%).

Al

Fe

Ti

6.50

4.85

0.149

0.155

0.0165

0.007

0.0014

Bal.

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T. Morita and K. Murakami

Fig. 2 Relationship between the treatment condition of short-time solution

treatment and hardness.

Fig. 1 Congurations of specimens (mm) for: (a) hardness measurement

and bend test, etc. (JIS Z2204, No. 3), (b) tensile test (JIS Z2201,
No. 13B), (c) Erichsen test (JIS Z2247, No. 3).

optical microscopy observations of the microstructure,

X-ray diffraction, the tensile test, and the Erichsen test. For
comparison, untreated material was also prepared.
The microstructure of each material was observed after
etching with a Krolls etchant. X-ray diffraction was carried
out under the following condition: diffraction angle 2 =
3442 degrees, angle division 0.02 degree and a scan speed
of 8.3 103 degrees1. This analysis was also performed
near the fractured parts of the specimens after the tensile
test.
The tensile test was conducted under a displacement speed
of 33.3 m/s at ambient room temperature, based on JIS Z
2241. The Erichsen test was performed to investigate the
relationship between the solution treatment temperature and
the drawability, based on JIS Z 2247. For this test, a punch
with a semispherical top (radius 10 mm) and a die with an
inside diameter of 29 mm (radius of llet 3 mm) were used.
The force to x the specimens was 10 kN, and Teon sheets
were used for lubrication.
TEM observation and selected area electron diffraction
were carried out for the material solution-treated at 1148 K
for 1 s. These experiments were also performed for the
solution-treated material fractured by the tensile test. A
sample was obtained near the fractured part. The positions
of the observation and electron diffraction were in the prior
phase. In addition, thinning of the observation region of
each material was conducted by ion-milling.
To conrm bendability improvement, bend tests were
further conducted on untreated material and the material
solution-treated at 1148 K for 1 s, based on JIS Z 2248. In this
test, the bend radii were 3, 3.5, and 4 mm.
2.2 Short-time aging
Although ductility and cold workability were improved
through short-time solution treatment, yield strength simulta-

neously decreased (Section 3.2). To recover yield strength

after the cold working, the effect of short-time aging was
investigated.
The specimens in Fig. 1(c) were rst solution-treated at
1148 K for 1 s, and then were pre-deformed to 16.7% strain
with a tensile test machine. This plastic deformation was
given to simulate the cold working process. In addition, the
above strain was the value arrived at tensile strength. Then,
the pre-deformed material was aged at 753, 853, and 953 K
for 40 s, and then air-cooled. Hereafter, these materials were
called PD/AG materials. For comparison, the solutiontreated material was also aged under the same conditions
(AG materials). For AG and PD/AG materials, an optical
microscopy observation of the microstructure, a hardness
measurement, and a tensile test were performed using the
methods mentioned in Section 2.1.
3.

Results and Consideration

3.1 Microstructure and phases

Figure 2 shows the relationship between the solution
treatment condition and hardness. As understood from this
gure, hardness decreased from the initial level after a shorttime solution treatment, except for the condition of 1223 K,
60 s. Since the reduction range of the hardness was larger in
the case of 1 s, this holding time was selected to be suitable
for the improvement of cold workability.
Figure 3 shows the microstructure of the materials, which
were solution-treated at various temperatures. In the microstructure of the untreated material, the bright region
corresponds to equiaxial grains, and the dark points around
the grains correspond to the phase. Although the
phase was observed in the materials solution-treated at 1098
and 1123 K, this phase became unclear with increasing
treatment temperature, and was not optically distinguished
over 1123 K.
Figure 4 shows the results of X-ray diffraction. Figure 5
shows the microstructures observed by TEM and the electron
diffraction patterns. Although both gures include the results
obtained from the specimens after the tensile test, they will be
referred to later.
In the case of the Ti6Al4V alloy, it has been reported that
two types of maritensite phases are formed in the prior

Effects of Short-Time Solution Treatment on Cold Workability of Ti6Al4V Alloy

175

Fig. 3 Microstructures of the materials untreated and solution-treated for

1 s.

Fig. 5 Microstructure in the prior phase of the solution-treated material

(1148 K, 1 s) observed by TEM and the diffraction patterns obtained by
selected area electron diffraction: (a) before tensile test, (b) after tensile
test.

Fig. 4 Results of X-ray diffraction: (a) untreated material, (b) materials

solution-treated for 1 s, (c) materials solution-treated for 1 s and tensiletested.

phase by a solution treatment.7) One is the phase with a

hexagonal close-packed structure and another is phase
with a face centered cubic structure. Their formation per-

centage depends on the treatment temperature. Furthermore,

the metastable phase can exist in the prior phase after
the solution treatment and its stress-induced transformation
contributes to the maintenance of ductility.8)
As understood by comparing Figs. 4(a) and 4(b), the peak
of the phase completely disappeared after the short-time
solution treatment, suggesting that most of the prior phase
was transformed to other phases, such as and phases, or
became a metastable phase. The peak of the phase was
clearly seen in all data in Fig. 4(b), so the formation of this
phase was obvious. Moreover, the peak of phase shifted to
a lower diffraction angle with increasing treatment temperature. This result suggested that the amount of the phase
relatively decreased or the structure of phase approached
that of the phase by increasing the treatment temperature.
On the other hand, the peak of the phase was the same
as that of the phase and its existence cannot be determined

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T. Morita and K. Murakami

Fig. 7 Relationship between the solution treatment temperature (holding

time: 1 s) and Erichsen value.

Fig. 6 Relationship between the solution treatment temperature (holding

time: 1 s) and mechanical properties: (a) yield strength and the tensile
strength, (b) yield ratio and elongation.

by X-ray diffraction; however, the possibility of the

formation of the phase was high because an acicular
microstructure was observed in the prior phase by TEM
[Fig. 5(a)]. In addition, a lot of studies have reported that the
phase possesses an acicular shape, as observed in this
study.710) Although the peak of the metastable phase is also
the same as that of the phase, it has been reported that the
diffraction pattern is needed to determine the existence of this
phase.8) Actually, the existence of a metastable phase was
conrmed from the diffraction pattern shown in Fig. 5(a).
3.2 Mechanical properties and cold workability
Figure 6 shows the relationship between the solution
treatment temperature and the mechanical properties.
Figure 6(a) shows the results of the yield strength ( ) and
the tensile strength ( ), and Fig. 6(b) shows the results of
the yield ratio ( ) and the elongation ( ).
As seen in Fig. 6(a), the yield strength was greatly
decreased by short-time solution treatment. Yield strength
and tensile strength slightly increased with increasing
treatment temperature. It was thought that this tendency in
static strength can result from the increased amount of
phase which contributes to improve the strength.
On the other hand, the elongation was signicantly
increased by the short-time solution treatment, whereas the
yield ratio decreased [Fig. 6(b)]. In particular, when the
treatment was conducted at 1148 K, the elongation was
highest and the yield ratio was lowest in the examined
conditions. This result suggested that the above temperature
was suitable to improve cold workability.
It was considered that the marked change in elongation
was caused by a stress-induced transformation of the
phase and the metastable phase. Actually, the peak of the
phase disappeared after the tensile test, as shown in
Fig. 4(c). At the same time, no diffraction pattern of the

Fig. 8 Results of the bend test of the untreated material and the material
solution-treated at 1148 K for 1 s (bending radius: 3.5 mm).

phase was obtained by electron diffraction, although it was

carefully attempted [Fig. 5(b)].
Figure 7 shows the relationship between the solution
treatment temperature and the Erichsen value. The Erichsen
value is directly related to drawability, which is important in
punch stretch forming. As expected, the highest value was
obtained at 1148 K, where elongation was highest, and the
yield ratio was lowest.
Furthermore, a bend test was carried out on the untreated
material and the material solution-treated at 1148 K for 1 s. A
difference between the materials was found when the bend
radius was 3.5 mm, as shown in Fig. 8. Namely, while cracks
were observed in the bent part of the untreated material, no
crack was generated in the solution-treated material. The
above results showed that bendability can be improved by
short-time solution treatment.
3.3 Effect of short-time aging
The effects of short-time aging were investigated to
recover the yield strength after short-time solution treatment
and cold working. Figure 9 shows the microstructure of each
material. Figure 10 shows the changes in the hardness and

Effects of Short-Time Solution Treatment on Cold Workability of Ti6Al4V Alloy

177

Fig. 9 Microstructures of AG and PD/AG materials (strain: 16.7%, aging

time: 40 s).

mechanical properties with short-time aging. In Figs. 10(a)

10(d), the solid plots ( ) show the results of the untreated,
solution-treated and AG materials. The open plots ( ) show
the results of the PD/AG material.
In Fig. 9, the phase (dark points) in the AG and PD/AG
materials was seen more clearly with increasing aging
temperature. If compared at the same aging temperature, no
marked difference was found between the AG and PD/AG
materials.
As shown in Fig. 10, the hardness and yield strength were
decreased by short-time solution treatment. However, they
increased beyond the initial values when short-time aging
was conducted at 753 K. This improvement was caused by
the precipitation of a ne phase in the prior phase.4,5)
While the hardness and yield strength of the AG material
increased with increasing aging temperature, those of the
PD/AG material decreased. It was thought that this decline
tendency in the PD/AG material was caused by acceleration
of the phase precipitation resulting from introduced
dislocations.11)
On the other hand, the elongation unfortunately decreased
through a short-time aging regardless of pre-deforming.
Although some important results were obtained in this study,
the above problem should be overcome by further studies.
4.

Conclusions

(1) Hardness was reduced from an initial level by a shorttime solution treatment. In particular, the reduction
range of the hardness was largest with a holding time
of 1 s.
(2) When the Ti6Al4V alloy was solution-treated at
10981223 K for 1 s, the results of X-ray diffraction,

Fig. 10 Changes in the hardness and mechanical properties of AG and

PD/AG materials (strain: 16.7%, aging time: 40 s): (a) hardness, (b) yield
strength, (c) tensile strength, (d) elongation.

TEM observation, and selected area electron diffraction

suggested the formation of the and the martensite
phases and the existence of a metastable phase in the
prior phase.
(3) The yield ratio was markedly decreased by a short-time
solution treatment because of the reduction in the yield
strength. At the same time, elongation was greatly
increased. It was believed that these changes were
caused by a stress-induced transformation of the
phase and a metastable phase to the phase.
(4) Cold workability, such as deep drawability and
bendability, was improved by a short-time solution
treatment due to the decrease of the yield ratio and
increased elongation.
(5) Short-time aging improved the yield strength of the
material solution-treated at 1148 K for 1 s and predeformed to a 16.7% strain; however, the elongation of
the material decreased.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientic
Research (c), No. 90239658. The authors gratefully acknowledge the generous support received.

178

T. Morita and K. Murakami

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