Effect of welding processes on joint

characteristics of Ti6Al4V alloy

T. S. Balasubramanian1, M. Balakrishnan2, V. Balasubramanian*3 and
M. A. Muthu Manickam1
Although Ti6Al4V alloys show reasonable weldability characteristics, the joint properties are
greatly influenced by the welding processes. Microstructures and tensile and impact properties of
welded Ti6Al4V alloy were evaluated for high vacuum electron beam welding, CO2 laser beam
welding and gas tungsten arc welding. The resultant tensile and impact properties of the welded
joints are correlated with the weld metal microstructure and hardness. The results indicate that the
electron beam welding is more suitable for Ti6Al4V sheet welding and the welding seam without
defects can be obtained. The full penetration butt welds are obtained by gas tungsten arc
welding process, but they have many drawbacks such as wide weld seam, big deformation and
coarse grains. Laser beam welding has many advantages such as the narrowest weld seam, the
least deformation and the finest grains, but it should be studied again for the reasons of unstable
welding technologies and strict condition.
Keywords: Gas tungsten arc welding, Laser beam welding, Electron beam welding, Titanium alloy

Introduction
Titanium alloys have been successfully applied for aerospace, ship and chemical industries, etc. because they
possess many good characteristics such as high strength to
weight ratio, corrosion resistance and excellent weldability.1
With the development of titanium industries, many welding
methods such as gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), beam
welding, resistance welding and diffusion welding have
already been developed. Because of their high chemical
activity, titanium alloys are easy to absorb harmful gases
(oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen) and many problems such
as low mechanical properties and unstable structures would
appear.13 Gas tungsten arc welding is a most common
welding method for reactive materials like titanium alloy.
Laser beam welding (LBW) with high energy density and
welding speed is a new welding technology. High vacuum
electron beam welding can protect joints from gaseous
contamination.
Mohandas et al.4 investigated the fusion zone (FZ)
microstructure and porosity in electron beam welds of
azb titanium alloy and reported that the porosity at low
welding speed was low and the scale of martensite lath
depended on welding speed. Early work by Sundaresan
et al.5 showed the influence of dc and ac pulsing on
solidification structure of azb titanium alloy welds and
1
Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE),
Avadi, Chennai 600 054, India
2
Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University,
Annamalai Nagar 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India
3
Center for Materials Joining and Research (CEMAJOR), Department of
Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar 608
002, Tamil Nadu, India

*Corresponding author, email visvabalu@yahoo.com

the effect of grain refinement on tensile behaviour. The

influence of temperature below 450uC on the tensile
properties of LBW of dual phase Ti6Al4V titanium
alloy was investigated by Wang et al.6 Wu et al.7
investigated the microstructure evaluation and fracture
behaviour for EBW of Ti6Al4V and reported that
disordered and short needle morphology of weld microstructure made the fracture mechanism complex. Saresh
et al.8 investigated the effects of EBW on thick Ti6Al4V
titanium alloy and found that the joint quality of single
sided partial penetration welds can be improved by using
two pass double side welding technique with lesser beam
power. Balasubramanian et al.9 developed mathematical
models to predict the tensile properties of pulsed current
gas tungsten arc welded Ti6Al4V alloy. Cao and
Jahazi10 reported the effect of welding speed on surface
morphology and shape, welding defects, microstructure,
hardness and tensile properties of Ti6Al4V alloy
welded using a high power Nd:YAG laser.
From the literature review, it is understood that
extensive research work has been carried out on welding
of Ti6Al4V alloy. However, most of the published
information is focusing on any one of the welding processes. There is no literature available comparing the
tensile properties and microstructural features of GTAW,
LBW and EBW joints of Ti6Al4V alloy. Hence, the
present investigation was carried out to compare the
tensile properties and microstructural characteristics of
GTAW, LBW and EBW joints of Ti6Al4V alloy.

Experimental
The rolled plates of Ti6Al4V alloy of 75630065?4 mm
were welded, maintaining the rolling direction of plates as

2011 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 23 April 2011; accepted 14 July 2011
DOI 10.1179/1362171811Y.0000000062

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<

normal to the welding direction. After machining and

cleaning, with the gaseous protection of helium and argon,
CO2 LBW (DC035 Slab CO2 laser; Rofin Sinar Laser
GmbH) and GTAW processes were carried out. The filler
rod of 3 mm diameter was used for GTAW process.
Electron beam welding was carried out on a low kV EBW
machine of 60 kV and 80 kW capacity (Techmata,
France). Rolled plates of 5?4 mm thick were butt welded
at a constant beam voltage of 55 kV and a beam current of
50 mA at 0?65 m min21. The chemical compositions for
the parent metal and filler rod are shown in Table 1.
Table 2 shows the parameters of welding processes used to
fabricate the joints. The standard impact and tensile (both
unnotched and notched) samples were prepared according
to the ASTM E23-08 and ASTM E8-08 specifications
respectively. Three specimens from each joint were
prepared and the average values are taken for the
discussion of tensile and impact toughness properties.
The unnotched tensile, notched tensile and notched bar
impact specimens were prepared by wire cut electric
discharge machining method and necessary care was taken
against any distortion and altering of the mechanical
properties during cutting.
Tensile testing was carried out using a 100 kN
electromechanical controlled universal testing machine
(model: UNITEK-94100; FIE-Bluestar, India). The 0?2%
offset yield strength was derived from the loaddisplacement curve. The microstructure of the joint was analysed
at various locations using an optical microscope (model:
ML7100; Meiji, Japan) and a transmission electron
microscope (TEM; model: CM20; Philips UK). The
microstructure analysis of joints by the optical microscopy observation was done with the aid of Krolls
reagent. Hardness measurement was done across the weld
centreline by a microhardness tester (model: HMV-2T;
Shimadzu, Japan) with 50 g load and 15 s dwell time.
The fractured surfaces of tensile smooth specimens
were analysed through a scanning electron microscope
(S400N; Hitachi). For revealing the detailed microstructural evolution in base alloy, GTAW, EBW and LBW of
joint weld metal were also studied by a TEM. Thin foil
disc specimens for TEM observation were cut parallel to
the rolling direction of the sheet from the base alloy and
perpendicular to the welding direction from the centre of
the weld. The specimens were mechanically polished to a
thickness of 0?1 mm, twin jet electropolished in a solution
(6 vol.-%HClO4z34 vol.-%C4H9OHz60 vol.-%CH3OH)

Table 1 Chemical compositions of base alloy and ller

rod/wt-%
Material

Al

Fe

Ti

Base alloy 6?38 4?07 0?19 0?17 0?008 0?012 Balance

Filler rod
6?10 3?99 0?18 0?013 0?01 0?02 Balance

Effect of welding processes on joint characteristics of Ti6Al4V alloy

COLOUR
FIGURE

a GTAW; b LBW; c EBW

1 Macrographs of welded joints

at 240uC and finally observed on the TEM operated at

120 kV. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used for primary
phase identification of the FZ and base alloy. Measurement
parameters for XRD were as follows: Cu Ka radiation,
accelerating voltage of 40 kV and tube current of 150 mA.
Diffraction patterns were obtained in the step, 2h mode in
the range of 1080u using an X-ray diffractometer (model:
UltimaIII; Rigaku, Japan).

Results and discussion

Macrostructure
The macrographs shown in Fig. 1 clearly reveal the
difference in weld bead geometry of the three different
welding processes. Gas tungsten arc welded joint
possesses wider weld FZ compared to the other two
welding processes (Fig. 1a). Laser beam welded joint
possesses narrow weld FZ and narrow heat affected
zone (HAZ) compared to the other two welding processes (Fig. 1b).11 The reverse triangle shape and clear
fusion line appeared in LBW joint. The sample welded
using EBW process shows the weld FZ of intermediate
width between GTAW and LBW processes (Fig. 1c).
The small narrow undercuts at the toe ends of EBW
seams were also observed, which are the characteristic
nature of the process.1

Microstructure
Optical and TEM images of base alloy and weld metal
region of the joints are presented in Fig. 2. The microstructure of the base alloy shown in Fig. 2a consists of
slightly elongated grains of a (light) and transformed b
(dark) containing some acicular a.12 It is well known
that deformed materials experience recovery and recrystallisation when annealed, and the TEM observation
indicates that there exist a large amount of substructures
in the base metal (BM), as shown in Fig. 2b. The optical
micrograph of GTAW FZ shown in Fig. 2c contains the
coarse serrate and acicular a structures of grain boundary
a, massive a and Widmanstatten azb structure.12 In
GTAW TEM image (Fig. 2d), the Widmanstatten pattern

Table 2 Welding parameters used to fabricate joints

Welding parameters
Welding process

Voltage

Current

Power

Travel speed/mm s21

Heat input/kJ mm21

GTAW
LBW
EBW

10 V

50 kV

125 A

50 mA

3500 W

0?725
50
10?83

1?72
0?073
0?231

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Effect of welding processes on joint characteristics of Ti6Al4V alloy

COLOUR
FIGURE

a, b base alloy; c, d GTAW; e, f LBW; g, h EBW

2 Optical micrograph (left) and TEM images (right) of base alloy and weld metal

a is clearly evidenced and is characterised by dislocation

free equiaxed primary a and transformed b with lamellar azb structure. The weld FZ in titanium alloys is
characterised by coarse, columnar prior-b grains that
originate during weld solidification. The size and morphology of these grains depend on the nature of the heat
flow that occurs during weld solidification. The FZ b grain
size depends primarily on the weld energy input, with a
higher energy input promoting a larger grain size. The
reason for the grain coarsening of the GTAW joint can be
justified by the heat input involved in this process. The
heat input supplied in GTAW process was 1?72 kJ mm21
(Table 2) which is higher than those in the LBW and EBW
processes. The higher heat input leads to longer cooling
time, resulting in the grain growth and coarse grained
structure of massive a and Widmanstatten azb. Threedimensional or mixed two-dimensional/three-dimensional
heat flow conditions, such as those present in single pass
and multipass GTAW weldments, promote the formation of more complex, multidirectional b grain morphologies. At lower cooling rates associated with GTAW
(10100uC s21 or 18180uF s21), a coarser structure of
Widmanstatten a plus retained b, or a mixture of this

structure and a13 could be achieved. The optical micrograph of LBW FZ (Fig. 2e) shows the fine acicular a
(martensite) structure. In LBW TEM image (Fig. 2f),
very fine a lamellae of acicular morphology is observed.
The presence of primary a, b and a9-like (martensite)
structure is also observed (Fig. 2f). The heat input
associated with LBW process is 0?073 kJ mm21 which is
the lowest of the three processes considered. The lowest
heat input leads to faster cooling rate (10010 000uC s21
or 18018 000uF s21) and finer grains of a lamellae.13
Figure 2g shows the optical micrograph of EBW FZ,
revealing the serrate and regular plate shaped a structures.
The equiaxed grains appear at the matrix. From the TEM
image of EBW FZ (Fig. 2h), the degrees of fineness in
a platelets are clearly visible. In addition to the finer
microstructure, the acicular morphology is also observed
in the same TEM image. The heat input of EBW process is
(0?231 kJ mm21) intermediate between GTAW and LBW
processes. Relatively higher heat input compared to LBW
process leads to slower cooling, which will be a little
slower than that of LBW joint, resulting in a platelets
instead of lamellae because the lamellae are allowed to
grow further.

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Effect of welding processes on joint characteristics of Ti6Al4V alloy

COLOUR
FIGURE

a base alloy; b GTAW; c LBW; d EBW

3 X-ray diffraction patterns for base alloy and weld metal

The grain size of the weld metal region is influenced

by the heat of the welding processes. Of the three
welding processes used in this investigation to fabricate
the joints, GTAW process has higher heat input
compared to LBW and EBW processes (Table 3).
Higher heat input will lead to slower cooling rate and
slow cooling rate will result in coarser microstructure in
this weld. In LBW joint, the presence of martensitic
structure is also observed. The high self-quenched rate
associated with LBW process certainly promotes the
diffusion of less transformation of the b phase into
martensitic microstructure.

dominant in base alloy (Fig. 3a), LBW (Fig. 3c) and

EBW (Fig. 3d) weld metals; whereas in GTAW weld
metal, b phase concentration is comparatively higher,
which indicates that the amount of retained b is
more in this joint. Since a9 (martensite) peaks could be
revealed at low intensity, in these four specimens, it is
hard to identify martensite in any of the four specimens.
The presence of higher concentration of cubic b phase in
addition to intermetallic phases like aluminium, titanium, TiC and VC peaks could be the reason for lower
mechanical properties of GTAW joint. The predominant hexagonal phase could be attributed to higher
mechanical properties for base alloy, EBW and LBW
joints compared to GTAW joint.

X-ray diffraction analysis

The XRD investigations were performed on each
specimen in order to determine the phase composition.
The diffraction patterns are presented in Fig. 3. The
main peaks of the four specimens (Fig. 3ad) reveal
two phases, hexagonal (a) and cubic (b); in weld metal
specimen, the presence of intermetallic phases like aluminium, titanium, titanium carbide (TiC) and vanadium
carbide (VC) peaks is also observed. In contrast to other
specimens, GTAW weld metal (Fig. 3b) has TiC peaks
while the other two welded specimens do not reveal such
peaks in their XRD patterns. The hexagonal phase is

Tensile properties
Table 3 presents the transverse tensile properties of the
base alloy and welded joints. In each condition, three
tensile specimens were tested and the average of the
results is presented in Table 3. The yield strength and
tensile strength of unwelded parent metal are 969 and
1002 MPa respectively. But the yield strength and tensile
strength of GTAW joints are 893 and 939 MPa respectively. This indicates that there is a reduction in
strength values due to GTAW process. Similarly, the

Table 3 Mechanical properties of base alloy and weld metal*

Ultimate
Yield
tensile
strength/ strength/
MPa
MPa
Base alloy
GTAW
LBW
EBW

969
893
959
960

Notch
Reduction in
tensile
cross-sectional strength/
Elongation/% area/%
MPa

(7?5) 1002 (6?8) 12?7 (0?8)

(6?2) 939 (6?3) 10?2 (1?2)
(9?8) 982 (7?2) 15?0 (1?7)
(5?3) 1000 (4?3) 7?7 (0?6)

34?5
17?5
32?0
21?8

(2?6)
(3?2)
(1?8)
(2?8)

1236
1047
1148
1077

(5?3)
(6?7)
(3?9)
(4?9)

Notch
strength
ratio

Impact
toughness
at room
Joint
Fracture
temperature/J efficiency/% location

1?2
1?1
1?2
1?1

16
15
10
10

(0?08)
(0?07)
(0?08)
(0?06)

(0?5)
(0?8)
(0?6)
(0?3)

93?7 (1?3)
98?1 (1?6)
99?8 (0?9)

Base
Weld
Weld
Weld

alloy
metal
metal
metal

*Values given in the brackets are the standard deviation of the experimental results.

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yield strength and tensile strength of LBW joints are 959

and 982 MPa respectively, which are lower than those of
the parent metal. However, the yield strength and tensile
strength of EBW joints are 960 and 1000 MPa
respectively. Of the three welded joints, the joint
fabricated by EBW process exhibited higher strength
than GTAW and LBW joints. Elongation and reduction
in cross-sectional area of unwelded parent metal are 12?7
and 34?55% respectively. But the elongation and
reduction in cross-sectional area of GTAW joints are
10?15 and 17?48% respectively. This suggests that there
is a reduction in ductility due to GTAW process.
Similarly, the elongation and reduction in cross-sectional area of LBW joints are 15 and 32% respectively,
which are higher than those of the parent metal.
However, the elongation and reduction in cross-sectional area of EBW joints are 7?7 and 21?78%
respectively. Of the three welded joints, the joints
fabricated by LBW process exhibited higher ductility
than GTAW and EBW joints. The joint efficiency of
GTAW joints is y93?7% and the joint efficiency of
LBW joints is 98?1%. Of the three welded joints, the
joints fabricated by EBW process exhibited a relatively
higher joint efficiency of 99?81%.
The transverse tensile properties of the welded joints
presented in Table 3 indicate that the EBW joint exhibited
superior tensile properties compared to GTAW and LBW
joints. During tensile test, all three joints invariably failed
at weld region. This indicates that the weld region is
comparatively weaker than base alloy region and the joint
properties are controlled by weld metal. The higher
strength of the BM is mainly attributed to the presence
of a and transformed b containing some amount of
acicular a. The acicular morphology grain structure gives
good combination of strength and toughness of this base
alloy. In fusion welding, the dilution of base alloy in weld
metal is a common phenomenon. The grain size of the
weld metal also plays a major role in deciding the joint
properties of titanium alloys. The amount, size, shape and
morphology of a phase and density of a/b interfaces also
dictate the joint properties.
Mechanical properties of composite weld structures in
titanium alloys depend on structural characteristics of
each weld region, which in turn depend on the specific
thermal cycle(s) imposed during welding. In addition to
prior-b grain size, weld zone mechanical properties in
Ti6Al4V are significantly influenced by the manner in
which the high temperature, body centred cubic b
phase transforms on cooling to the low temperature,
hexagonal close packed phase. Characteristics of this
transformed b microstructure depend principally on
the cooling rate from above the b transus temperature,
which is correspondingly influenced by the welding
process, process parameters and other welding conditions (such as workpiece geometry and fixturing). The
high cooling rates associated with low energy input
welding processes such as LBW and EBW promote
transformation of b to a9 martensite. This extremely fine,
acicular transformation product exhibits high strength
and hardness. At the lower cooling rates associated with
GTAW, a coarser structure of Widmanstatten a plus
retained b, or a mixture of this structure and a9, is produced, which exhibits yield and tensile strengths inferior
to those of base alloy and ductility and toughness greater
than those of an entirely martensitic microstructure

Effect of welding processes on joint characteristics of Ti6Al4V alloy

(LBW and EBW joints).13 The lowest strength of

GTAW joint is mainly attributed to the presence of
coarse serrate structures of grain boundary a, massive a
and Widmanstatten azb. The highest strength of EBW
joint could be contributed by the weld metal microstructure containing fine serrate and regular plate shaped
a microstructures. Intermediate strength achieved by the
LBW joint might be attributed to the acicular morphology of the joint and coarse grained HAZ microstructure.

Impact toughness and hardness properties

Three Charpy impact toughness test results are averaged
and presented in Table 3. The impact properties of BM
is 16 J at room temperature, when it was welded by
GTAW process, the weld metal exhibited 15 J which is
lower than that of the BM and is the highest impact
strength achieved by welding compared to the other two
welding processes. The impact toughness of LBW and
EBW joints is 10 J each. The equal value of impact
toughness might be contributed by the inherent nature
of high energy density welding processes.
Figure 4 shows the hardness variations across the
weld centreline of the joints. The hardness of base alloy
is 340 HV, while the weld metal hardness of GTAW,
LBW and EBW joints are 385, 436 and 417 HV
respectively. The LBW joint shows the highest hardness
level which is greater than those of GTAW joint, EBW
joint and base alloy. The GTAW joint shows the lowest
hardness level among the joints. In HAZ locations of the

COLOUR
FIGURE

a GTAW; b EBW; c LBW

4 Microhardness survey across weld centreline

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Effect of welding processes on joint characteristics of Ti6Al4V alloy

effect of heat input level, cooling rate and microstructural, tensile and impact toughness properties. The
relationships between cooling rate and tensile strength
and impact toughness values are plotted in Fig. 5. From
Fig. 5, it is clear that the faster cooling rate yields good
strength properties with little compromise with impact
toughness energy absorption.

COLOUR
FIGURE

Fracture surface

5 Relationship between heat input and tensile and impact

toughness properties

GTAW, LBW and EBW joints, the hardness values are

around 360, 400 and 393 HV respectively.
The reasons for why the microhardness evaluation in
weld metal by EBW process is smaller than that by LBW
process is that the harmful gas by EBW is the least
compared to others and the joint would not be contaminated. The microhardness values are slightly significant in affecting the mechanical properties because
the inherent nature of the process selected has more
influencing factors over. The width of the FZ was
observed to be 2?55?0, 00?71?5 and 1?53?0 mm for
GTAW, LBW and EBW process weldments. The
relationship between the heat input and width of the
HAZ was evaluated and is presented in Table 4. From
Table 4, the widths of the HAZ were observed to be 3?5,
1?3 and 1?8 mm for GTAW, LBW and EBW process
weldments respectively. In addition, the relationships
between the heat input of the welding process, the
microstructural evaluation with respect to base alloy
microstructure and the resultant tensile and impact
properties were developed and are presented in Table 5.
From Table 5, one can easily understand the significant
Table 4 Relationship between heat input and width of
HAZ
Sl. no. Processes Heat input/kJ mm21 Width of HAZ/mm
01
02
03

GTAW
EBW
LBW

1?72
0?231
0?073

3?5
1?8
1?3

The fractographs of tensile test specimen are displayed

in Fig. 6. The modes of failure for the tensile test BM
and the welded joints are ductile with microvoid
coalescence in all cases (Fig. 6ad). Figure 6a shows
the fractographs of base alloy and it contains finer
equiaxed dimples. There is appreciable size variation in
the dimples observed in GTAW joint (Fig. 6b). The
parallelly aligned finer dimples with grain boundary a
are observed in LBW joint (Fig. 6c). This could be the
reason for the highest ductility with intermediate tensile
strength for this LBW joint. The fractograph of the
EBW joint (Fig. 6d) reveals the finer dimples, but at the
same time, the presence of numerous secondary cracks
can also be observable.14 The preferred nucleation site
may be the presence of micropores in this joint. The size
variation in the dimple is also observed. The dimple size
exhibits a directly proportional relationship with the
strength and ductility, i.e. if the dimple size is finer, then
the strength and ductility of the respective joint are
higher and vice versa.15

Conclusions
The tensile and impact properties of GTAW, LBW and
EBW joints of Ti6Al4V alloy were evaluated and
correlated with respective microstructural features.
From this investigation, the following important conclusions are derived.
1. Of the three welded joints, the joint fabricated by
EBW process exhibited higher strength and the enhancement in strength is y6% compared to GTAW joint, and
2% compared to LBW joint. The presence of fine serrate
and regular plate shaped a microstructures in weld
metal is responsible for the enhancement in tensile
strength of EBW joint.
2. Of the three joints fabricated, joint fabricated using
GTAW process exhibited 35% higher impact toughness
compared to the joint fabricated by LBW and EBW
processes due to the presence of coarse serrate and
acicular a structure of grain boundary a, massive a and
Widmanstatten azb in weld metal region.
3. Hardness is higher in weld metal region compared
to HAZ and base alloy regions irrespective of welding
technique. Lower hardness is recorded in the GTAW

Table 5 Relationship between cooling rate, microstructural evaluation and its resultant tensile and impact toughness
properties*

Sl.
Heat
no. Processes input/kJ mm21

Microstructural feature
Qualitative
comparison
Size of
Width of Grain boundary
of cooling rate a colonies a lamellae a layer
Tensile strength Impact toughness

01
02
03

Slow
Medium
Fast

GTAW
EBW
LBW

1?72
0?231
0?073

q
Q
QQ

q
Q
QQ

Available
Available
Available

Q
q
q

q
Q
Q

*q: increases; Q: decreases.

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Effect of welding processes on joint characteristics of Ti6Al4V alloy

COLOUR
FIGURE

a base metal; b GTAW; c LBW; d EBW

6 Fractographs of tensile test specimens

joint (385 HV) and the higher hardness is recorded in

the LBW joint (436 HV).

6.

Acknowledgement
The authors wish to record their sincere thanks to the
Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment
(CVRDE), Avadi, Chennai, Government of India for
providing financial support to carry out this investigation
through a Contract Acquisition for Research Services
project (No. CVRDE/MMG/09-10/0043/CARS).

References

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8.

9.

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6Al4V sheets lap and butt joints carried out by CO2 laser:
mechanical and morphological characterization, J. Mater. Process.
Technol., 2004, 149, (13), 546552.
3. G. Casalino, F. Curcio and F. M. C. Minutolo: Investigation on
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