Microstructure and mechanical properties of laser additive manufactured novel titanium alloy after heat treatment

A novel α+β titanium alloy with multi-alloying addition was designed based on the cluster formula 12Al-Ti₁₂](AlTi₂)+5Al-Ti₁₄](AlV_1.2Mo_0.6Nb_0.2) which was derived from Ti-6Al-4V.The nominal composition of this novel alloy was determined as Ti-6.83Al-2.28V-2.14Mo-0.69Nb-6.79Zr.In this study,the novel alloy and Ti-6Al-4V alloy samples were prepared by laser additive manufacturing.The microstructure,micro-hardness,room/high temperature tensile properties of the as-deposited samples were investigated.Compared to Ti-6Al-4V,the novel alloy has much higher room and high temperature (600℃) tensile strengths,which are 1,427.5 MPa and 642.2 MPa,respectively;however,it has a much lower elongation (3.2%) at room temperature because of the finer microstructure.To improve the elongation of the novel alloy,heat treatment was used.After solution at 960℃ or 970℃ for 1 h followed by air cooling and aging at 550℃ for 4 h followed by air cooling,a unique bi-modal microstructure which contains crab-like primary α and residual β phase is obtained,improving the compression elongation by 80.9% compared to the as-deposited samples.The novel alloy can be used as a high-temperature and high-strength candidate for laser additive manufacturing.