Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Effect of heat-treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of

Ti alloys: An overview
Puja Yadav, Kuldeep K. Saxena ⇑
Department of Mechanical Engineering, GLA University, Mathura, U.P 281406, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The present review paper complies the information of Ti and its alloys from basic processing to mechan-
Received 17 January 2020 ical properties, along with various microstructure and heat-treatment processes. The basic processing
Received in revised form 21 January 2020 routes and reaction to develop pure titanium from ore is explained. The role of stabilizers on pure tita-
Accepted 13 February 2020
nium and their classifications as a-phase or b-phase stabilizers are explained with the details of respec-
Available online 3 April 2020
tive elements. The various kinds of microstructure available in Ti or its alloys are shown and explained.
The microstructure of alloy can be altered with help of processing conditions, composition and/ or cooling
Keywords:
rate and medium. The resulted microstructure obtained after heat treatment of various Titanium alloy are
Heat treatment
Microstructure
lamellar, bimodal, equiaxed, basket-weave, acicular and widmanstätten, which exhibits different
Mechanical properties mechanical properties. Generally, Titanium alloy with fully lamellar structure shows higher fracture
Hardness toughness and crack resistance while equiaxed structure shows high cycle fatigue resistance. Cooling rate
Titanium alloys and cooling medium also results in different microstructure. It was observed that water cooled titanium
alloys shows highest hardness due to martensite formation because of rapid cooling followed by air and
furnace cooling.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International
Conference of Materials Processing and Characterization.

1. Introduction
Titanium and its alloy are well known for their high strength,
good toughness, excellent corrosion resistance and thermal stabil-
ity. The strength and weight ratio of titanium, made it more versa-
tile for industrial and medical applications. In industry, it is used in
aerospace to marine and in health, as well as well used from den-
tistry to orthopaedics [1–3]. Therefore, Ti and its alloys are used in
variety of application due to the property it exhibits. Some of the
components made up of Ti or it’s alloys are shown in Fig. 1.
The properties of Titanium and its alloys are depended on var-
ious factors such as alloy composition, processing method,
microstructure (such as crystal structure, grain size), strengthening
mechanism etc [8]. Among all, microstructure is one of the factors
that affect the mechanical properties. The desired mechanical
property can be achieved by altering the microstructure by various
methods such as thermo-mechanical processing, heat treatment,
cold working, and hot working. In hot working, heating rate,
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: saxena0081@gmail.com (K.K. Saxena).
heating temperature, strain rate, strain and cooling rate are the
other parameters on which the microstructure is fully dependent.
In this review article, heat treatment and its influences on mechan-
ical properties and microstructure are compiled in a broader way,
wherein the main emphasis is given to the effect of heat treatment
on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti and Ti
alloys. In the later sections, various heat treatments are described
on titanium alloy to develop the desired characteristics for end-
product according to their application. Most of the heat treatment
process are done on two phase (a + b) alloys such as Ti-6Al-4V
which is used in biomedical and other applications due to its high
strength-to-weight ratio, relatively low elastic modulus, excellent
corrosion resistance, tissue compatibility [9–12]. The properties
and application of Ti alloys varies with its processing condition.
2. Basic processing of Ti alloys
Processing of titanium metal (Fig. 2) from ore to finished pro-
duct takes place in four steps. In first step, reduction of titanium
ore into porous quality of titanium metal called as sponge. In sec-
ond step, melting of sponge and convert it into an ingot, whereas

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.02.541
2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Conference of Materials Processing and Characterization.
 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557 2547

Fig. 1. Components made of Ti and its alloys; (a) Aircraft engine frame (Investment cast) [4,5], (b) Gas duct of auxiliary turbine, (c) hip implants (biomedical) [6] and (d)
Nozzle area of Boeing 777 (TIMETAL 21 S) [7].

Fig. 2. Schematic representation of titanium production cycle [14].

2548 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557
third step involves the conversion in mill products from ingots and
the last steps, mill products are converted into finished shapes
[13].
The titanium shows an allotropic type of behaviour and shows
close packed structure (HCP) crystal structure (a-phase) and
body-centered cubic (BCC) crystal structure (b-phase). Usually, in
pure titanium alloy, a-phase remains in existence up to tempera-
ture of 885 °C, whereas b-phase starts from temperature of
885 °C. The temperature at which the last remaining a-phase
transformed to b-phase on heating called as b-transus temperature
[3,5,15]. The crystal structure of HCP and BCC are shown in Fig. 3.
The transformation temperature is depended on substitutional and
interstitial element [5]. Compared to BCC b phase, HCP a phase
posses greater resistance to plastic deformation, higher creep resis-
tance, [3,16]. Titanium properties such as low density can be
improved by processing and alloying [16].
The alloying elements for titanium alloys are divided into
three categories as a-stabilizers, b-stabilizers and neutral alloy-
ing elements [15]. This classification is on the basis of their
effects on the a/b transformation temperature [5]. The substitu-
tional element Al is the major a stabilizing element added to Ti
alloys. Other a- stabilizers include the interstitials elements (O,
Al, N and C) whose levels are controlled for achieving good
property combinations. The temperature at which a phase
begins to transforms into b phase is raised by alloying
a-stabilizers and lowered by the alloying the b-stabilizer. Alloy-
ing elements used as b stabilizers are b-isomorphous type (Mo,
V, Nb, Ta) and are shown in Fig. 4c and b-eutectoid types (e.g.
Mn, Fe, Cr, Co, H) as shown in Fig. 4d. Si is added in small
amounts to selected alloys. Zr and Sn elements behave more
or less neutral or are slightly decreasing the transus temperature
[5]. Effect of different alloying element and their stabilizing
effect are shown in Table 1.
Titanium is accessible in commercially pure and alloys form. In
Ti alloys, the effect of stabilizer on alpha-phase and beta phase
can be seen in Fig. 4a-d. Among these it can be seen that alpha
phase and beta phase are separated by (a + b) phase Fig. 4b-d.
With increase in stabilizer concentration the width of (a + b)
phase increases [13]. Therefore, titanium alloys are classified
mainly into three classes, according to their basic metallurgical
characteristics: (a) alpha (a) alloys, alpha–beta (a + b) alloys
and beta (b) alloys.
Fig. 3. Unit cells structure of titanium: (a) HCP (a phase) and (b) BCC (b phase) [4].
Alpha (a) alloys:
These alloys contain a stabilizer such as aluminium and tin in
large amount. These alloys are HCP at ordinary temperature. Exam-
ple of such a alloy is Commercial Pure (CP) Titanium, Ti-5Al-2.5Sn.
The CP titanium is available in number of grades, some of them are
listed in Table 2. Among the 1–4 Grade, Grade 1 has least strength
level whereas grade 4 shows the greatest strength among the all
the 4 grades. Ti-5Al-2.5S contain small amount of b-phase due to
impurities, but it is not present in sufficient quantity to change
the transformation behaviour. a alloys are used in process and
chemical industry due to its excellent corrosion behaviour
[3,9,13]. Additionally, pure a Ti-alloy are used in commercial appli-
cation due to its excellent formability [5]. Some of the a-Titanium
alloys are mention below in Table 2.
Alpha-beta (a + b) phase alloys:
The two phase alloys of titanium contain both a stabilizing and
b stabilizing element (Mo, V, W, Ta, and Si). (a + b) alloys are mix-
ture of a and b phases called as two phase titanium alloy. These
alloys are used at temperature range of 350 °C–450 °C for high
strength application [3]. Commercial (a + b) alloy have about 5 to
6 wt% Al contents with increasing amount of b stabilizers [5].
Two phase (a + b) titanium alloys reported more than 70% com-
mercially available [21]. Few a + b alloy are listed in Table 3.
Beta (b) alloys:
The b alloys contain less concentration of alpha stabilizers so as
to improve strength, corrosion resistance, and high creep resis-
tance [12]. These contain b-stabilizer in sufficient quantity and
characterised by high hardenability, cold formability and high den-
sity, as well as improved forgeability. Example of b-alloys with
their properties is given in Table 4.
3. Types of microstructure of Ti- alloys
Various type of microstructure, such as lamellar, equiaxed,
bimodal, Widmanstätten, basket-weave, martensite, acicular and
bi-lamellar are available in different titanium alloys and are shown
in Fig. 5. These microstructure can be obtained by simple heat
 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557 2549

Fig. 4. Effect of stabilising element on Titanium; (a) Neutral (Sn, Zr), (b) a stabilizer (Al, N, O, C), (c) b stabilizer i.e. V, Mo, Nb, Ta (b isomorphous) and (d) b stabilizer i.e. Fe,
Mn, Cr, Co, Cu, Si (b eutectoid) [4].

Table 1
titanium alloy having Cu content as 1% and reveals the lamellae
Effect of different alloying element and their stabilizing effect in titanium [13].
of a-Ti and Ti2Cu, whereas Fig. 7c shows the microstructure of tita-
Alloying element Range (wt%) Effect on structure nium with 2% Cu and reveals similar features. But, the thickness of
Aluminium 2–7 a-stabilizer these plates is longer and thicker than the plates obtained with 1%
Tin 2–6 a-stabilizer Cu addition.
Zirconium 2–8 a and b strengthening [17,8] As on increasing the percentage of Cu, the length and thickness
Chromium 2–12 b-stabilizer
Vanadium 2–20 b-stabilizer
of plates increases, as shown in Fig. 7d. Fig. 7e shows the
Copper 2–6 b-stabilizer [18] microstructure of 10% Cu alloy with eutectoid structure, is very
Molybdenum 2–20 b-stabilizer [19] close to eutectoid point (7.0%) compared with that of the interme-
diate phase, Ti2Cu (39.9% Cu). Fig. 7f shows Ti-6–4 with wid-
manstätten structure of a-Ti plates separated from b-Ti during
treatments and other processing methods [1,13,25]. These types of cooling, wherein the matrix is of b phase.
microstructure are depended on type of Ti alloy, type of heat treat- Ti-6–4 is a two phase (a + b) Ti alloy obtained from different
ment, cooling medium etc. processing condition are used by various researcher as a base
Hajizadeh et al. [27] studied CP titanium, which is a-Ti alloy material for further heat-treatments and other processing purpose.
with chemical composition (wt%) of 0.18% O, 0.03% N, 0.16% Fe, The base microstructures are provided in Fig. 8.
0.17% Pd, 0.18% Cr, and balance Ti. Commercial Ti grade is heat Fig. 8a shows a micrograph of Ti–6Al–4V (ELI) alloy as received
treated for 1 h followed by air cooling reveals equiaxed microstruc- in initially annealed conditions, consisted with primary a and a + b
ture (Fig. 6a) [27]. Poondla et al. [28] also studied the commercial phases. The white contrast is primary a, whereas combination of
Ti with grade 2 and reported within b grain, fine (a) phase lamellae white and black contrast is two phase i.e. a + b phases [25]. Nady
is located as shown in Fig. 6b. Hairullin et al. [29] used commercial et al. [31] observed forged Ti64 alloy which were received as bars
pure titanium in annealed condition at temperature 750 °C in vac- were heat treated (vacuum induction furnace) followed by forging
cum chamber for an hour and reported that the average grain size and machining. The observed micrograph consists of fine a-phase-
is approximately 100 lm (Fig. 6c). The differnce in microstructure in greater quantity and some amount of distributed b-particles.
can be attributed due to variation in processing condition, compo- Fang et al. [30] observed and reported the microstructure of Ti-
sitional difference and cooling rate. 6-4 alloy, which is commercially available in the form of bars.
Kikuchi et al. [18] observed in alloying elements, Cu is consid- These bars were produced by ingot metallurgy and cut in cuboid
ered as b stabilizing element. The addition of b element reduces shape along direction of the cylinder ingot using electrical dis-
the melting point and also reactivity of titanium. The CP titanium charge machining. The initial microstructure of the alloy is shown
shows a widmanstätten and basket-weave structure of acicular in Fig. 8b, that consist of primary b phase as a small seam around
a-Ti (Fig. 7a) as on cast condition. Fig. 7b–d are showing the micro- the coarsely and lighted coloured primary lamellae a phase. Peder-
graph of various composition of cast titanium alloy with varying son et al. [13] studied the microstructure of Ti-64 alloy in the
percentage of Cu contents. Fig. 7b shows the microstructure of forged condition. The microstructure revealed (Fig. 8c) in the form

Table 2
Various alloys in the category of a-Titanium alloys [3,5,7,9].

Code/Designation Alloy Properties Tb (°C) Application

a-alloys Designation (wt%)
Grade 1 CP-Ti (0.2 Fe, 0.18 O) excellent cold formability 890 deep drawing applications, cladding alloy for steel
reactors, sheet metal for explosive claddings
Grade 2 CP-Ti (0.3 Fe, 0.25 O) tensile strength 915 Exhaust pipe shrouds
Airframe skin
Grade 3 CP-Ti (0.3 Fe, 0.35 O) moderately cold-formable higher strength 920 pressure vessel
Grade 4 CP-Ti (0.5Fe, 0.40 O) highest strength 950 mountings and fittings
Grade 6 Ti-5Al-2.5Sn good stability and strength at elevated 1040 Air frame and jet engine [20]
temperatures, good weldability
2550 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557

Table 3
Various alloys in the category of (a + b) Titanium alloys [5,9,10,13].

Code/Designation Alloy Designation Main properties Tb (°C) Application

(a + b) alloys (wt%)
Ti-8–1-1 Ti-8Al-1V-1Mo low density high Young’s modulus excellent 1040 compressor blades disks
damping capacity
Ti-3–2.5 Ti-3Al-2.5V improved ductility and formability [22] 935 For tubing in aircraft and engine hydraulic systems,
Golf clubs and tennis rackets, Performance bicycles
Ti-6-4 Ti-6Al-4V high strength, relatively low density, excellent 995 Aero-engine
corrosion resistance, and good creep resistance
Ti-6–6-2 Ti-6Al-6V-2Sn high strength excellent corrosion resistance 945 forging applications for rocket cases airframe
sections ordnance parts
Ti-6-2-4-6 Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-6Mo high strength excellent corrosion resistance 940 Blades, discs, spacers and seals, gas turbine discs
and impellers
Ti64 (ELI) Ti–6Al–4V (ELI) high strength-to-weight ratio, relatively 935 Total joint prosthesis hip and knee joints
low elastic modulus, tissue compatibility prosthesis dental implants

Table 4 different grain morphologies from equiaxed to acicular are

Various alloys in the category of beta (b) phase [3,7,9,23]. obtained. These alloys are used for high temperature application
Alloy composition Tb (°C) Properties Application [7].
Ti–13V–11Cr–3Al 650 High strength Airframe Zhu et al. [33] studied TA15 which was received as hot rolled
springs plate whose chemical composition is given in Table 5. As received
Ti–6V-6Mo–5.7Fe–2.7Al 704 High strength Aircraft microstructure consist of equiaxed primary a, secondary a plates
fasteners and retained b phase between these two Fig. 9a. Arab et al. [2] also
Ti–11.5Mo–6Zr–4.5Sn 745 High strength Precision
studied TA15 whose chemical composition is given in Table 5 and
forging
Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al 790–805 Good fatigue Aero the initial as received microstructure revels bimodal microstruc-
behaviour, Good structures ture that consist of transformed b matrix and equiaxed a as shown
toughness landing gear in Fig. 13a. Another microstructure of TA 15 is reported by Fan
Ti–3Al–8V–6Cr–4Mo–4Zr 795 High strength, Oil-
et al. [34] in hot forged condition. The chemical composition of
corrosion fields
resistance Springs
the alloy mention in Table 5. Initial microstructure consists of
fasteners transformed b and 50% equiaxed a Fig. 9b.
Ti–15Mo–2.6Nb–3Al–0.2Si 807 high specific Automotive
strength, good hot aerospace
and cold industry 4. Methods to developed microstructure
workability, deep [24]
hardenability and
4.1. Thermo-mechanical processing
oxidation
resistance
Ti-35V-15Cr unknown Burn resistant aircraft [23] Thermo-mechanical treatment involves the heating of any
Ti-30Mo – Corrosion Model materials up to desired temperature and then mechanically deform
resistance binary at that temperature. A lot of work has been reported by many
Ti-40Mo – Corrosion Model
resistance binary
researchers on Ti [35–39] and its similar alloy Zr [40–44]. The vari-
ety of desired microstructures can be obtained using this process.

of bimodal consisting of about 30% equiaxed primary a particles
and 70% of widmanstätten type structure. The microstructure also
contained 5% retained b phase. The a’ is surrounded by trans-
formed b that results in Widmanstätten structure. Similar,
microstructure was also obtained by other researchers [5,28] on
Ti-64 alloy. TA15 is near a titanium alloy. Near a-titanium alloys
consist of major a structure. Due to different processing condition
4.2. Heat treatment
To improve the properties of Ti and its alloy heat treatment are
done. Heat treatment alters the properties of metals by altering the
microstructure and subsequently mechanical properties. Heat
treatment improves the physical and chemical properties of a
material [26]. Heat treatment consists of heating at a predefined

Fig. 5. Microstructures for a representative a/b alloy: (a) Lamellar, (b) bimodal, and (c) equiaxed [26].
 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557
Fig. 6. Microstructure of CP Titanium alloys with different initial condition: (a) annealed billet at 800 °C for 1 h (argon atmosphere) and air cooled [27], (b) grade 2 [28], (c)
annealed at 750 °C (vacuum chamber) [29].
Fig. 7. Micrograph of cast titanium metals: (a) CP Ti, (b) Ti with 1% Cu, (c) Ti with 2% Cu, (d) Ti with 5% Cu, (e) Ti with 10% Cu and (f) cast Ti-6Al-4V [18].
temperature and also cooled in predefined manner. Heat treatment
of initial microstructure is done to obtain the desired microstruc-
ture that exhibits the balance or properties required for specific
application. Heat treatment includes surface treating, annealing,
thermo-chemical treatment, aging [26].
4.3. Hot working
The phase evolution in hot working during heating involves
a ? b transformation and b ? a transformation in cooling
[34]. In hot working, good microstructural control can be done.
The control of microstructure helps to alter the mechanical
properties.
5. Effect of heat treatment on microstructure:
The heat treatment of metal alloy is used to obtain the desired
mechanical properties. Heat treatment mainly includes solution
treating, surface treatment, annealing, aging, and thermo chemical
treatment [45]. Phase transformation in heat treatment can be con-
2551
trolled by the temperature and the time of the heat treatment. Ti
alloys are heat treated for relief of residual stresses following
fabrication, improving attributes such as machinability and
dimensional stability and for optimizing properties. Different
heat-treated microstructure obtained in different studies by
various researchers [2,10,31,46,47].
Venkatesh et al. [10] studied Ti–6–4 (ELI) alloy and obtained the
microstructure by performing heat treated at 955 °C and air cooled
following aging. In result, a combination of acicular a and b with
primary a was reported and shown in Fig. 10a, whereas Fig. 10b
shows the microstructure of alloy heat treated at 955 °C then water
quenching and subsequent aging at 525 °C. After these processing,
reported microstructure consisted of primary a and a‫ ׳‬+b. The
subsequent aging resulted in precipitation of some fine secondary
a phase in the metastable b phase. The size of the acicular a is
comparatively large in the air cooled (AC) + aging condition than
the water quenched (WQ) + aging microstructure which has thin
a‫ ׳‬plates.
It was observed by fillip et al. [46], that microstructure of the
Ti–6Al–4V alloy after cooling in water showing a‫ ׳‬martensitic
plates as shown in Fig. 11b. Microstructure of the Ti–6Al–4V alloy
2552 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557

Fig. 8. Optical micrograph of Ti-6-4 with various microstructures as in base condition at: (a) low interstitial (ELI) in annealed condition [25], (b) swaged [30] and (c) ring
rolling [13].

Table 5
Various Chemical composition of TA15 in as received condition [2,33,34].

Alloy element Al Zr Mo V Fe C O H Ti
TA15 hot rolled plate [2] 6.3 1.9 1.32 1.68 0.04 0.01 – – bal
TA15 6.06 1.86 2.08 1.32 0.30 – – – bal
TA15 hot forged 6.69 2.25 1.77 2.25 0.14 – 0.12 0.002 bal

Fig. 9. Microstructure of as received TA15 alloy under different processing condition: (a) hot rolled plate [32,33] and (b) hot forged [34].
 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557 2553

Fig. 10. Microstructures of Ti–6Al–4V (ELI) alloy heat treated at 955 °C followed by (a) air cooling and subsequent aging (b) water quenching and subsequent aging at 525 °C
[10].

Fig. 11. Microstructure of (a + b) Titanium alloy Ti–6Al–4V (a) air cooled (a phase lamellae in the b-matrix) (b) water cooled with a0 (a0 0 ) martensitic plates [46].

Fig. 12. Microstructure of heat treated Ti64 under different conditions:(a) water quenched (at 930 °C), (b) water quenched (970 °C), (c) air cooled (970 °C) and (d) Furnace
cooled at 970 °C [31].
2554 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557
after cooling in air, had a phase lamellae in the b-matrix and length
and thickness of a-phase reduces with increase in cooling rate and/
or increasing of b-stabilising elements as shown in Fig. 11a.
Nady et al. [31] performed heat treatment on forged Ti64 alloy
at 930 °C with solution treatment in the (a + b) range and reported
that the higher percentage of fine equiaxed a-globules and some
martensite a’ in microstructure due to water quenching and shown
in Fig. 12a, whereas Fig. 12b acicular martensitic (a’) was obtained
after solution treatment at 970 °C (in b-phase field) and water
quenching, martensite has HCP crystal structure and has founded
heavily twinned. Fig. 12c shows equiaxed a-phase microstructure
(white contrast) in transformed b-phase (Widmanstätten a parti-
cles) which was air cooled from 970 °C (from the b-phase field).
It can be seen in Fig. 12d that annealing from b-phase resulted in
transformed b-phase which is known as ‘basket weaves’
microstructure. The basket weaves structure is required for higher
fracture toughness.
Arab et al. [2] Studied TA15 with bimodal structure type of
microstructure (shown in Fig. 13a), which was composed of trans-
formed b and equiaxed a. Fig. 13b-d shows the lamellar structure
in which increase in lamellar thickness can be seen after heat trea-
ted at 970 °C for 1 h, cooled in different medium(water and air) fol-
lowed by aging (500 °C for 6 h). Fig. 13b shows the needle shape
structure on the b grain boundary. Fig. 13c shows the fine a
structure.
6. Effect of heat treatment on mechanical property:
Mechanical properties of Ti alloys could be optimised by
controlling the microstructure via proper thermo-mechanical pro-
cessing and/or heat treatment. Generally, alloy with fully lamellar
structure shows higher fracture toughness and crack resistance
compared to equiaxed structure. Fully lamellar structure has
higher fracture toughness and high crack resistance while
equiaxed structure shows high cycle fatigue resistance.
Fig. 13. SEM micrograph of TA15 heat treated at 970 °C for 1 h condition; (a) no heat treatment (HT), (b) water quenched , (c) water quench + aging (500 °C for 6 h) and (d) air
cooling + aging (500 °C for 6 h) [2].
Microstructure parameter affecting fracture toughness are b grain
size, grain boundary a thickness, a colony size, aspect ratio of a
phase and a platelet thickness and spacing. For lamellar, coarsen-
ing of a platelets increasing fracture toughness, while increasing
of grain boundary a thickness increases the fracture toughness.
Bimodal structure has advantage yield stress, tensile stress,
ductility, fatigue stress over other [48]. Properties possess by dif-
ferent Ti alloys are as follows. a- alloys possess good formability,
satisfactory strength, creep resistance and weldability. Properties
of (a + b) alloys can be controlled by heat treatments which are
used to achieve the desired microstructure. This results in
improved mechanical properties such as good fabricability, high
strength. b -alloys exhibits low basic strength but excellent
formability, good ductility and toughness. Whereas aging of b
alloys (precipitation of a) results in fracture toughness values
higher than for aged a + b alloys of comparable yield strength.
Effects of alloying element on mechanical properties are listed
in Table 6.
It was observed by Venkatesh et al. [10] on Ti-64 ELI that hard-
ness increase with increasing cooling rate due rapid cooling which
results in martensite formation. Similar results was concluded by
Nady et al. [31] for heat treated Ti64, cooled in different media
(water, air, furnace) at 970 °C. They Nady et al. [31] also concluded
that the tensile strength increases in water cooled from b field
while decrease in air. Reda et al. [47] found that the hardness of
cast Ti6Al4V increases after the single stage heat treatment at
935 °C holding for 10 min followed by water quenched. They also
concluded due to formation of brittle a’ matensite phase after cool-
ing, hardness and tensile strength increases at the expense of
impact elongation and impact toughness. Filip et al. [46] had
observed that refinement of lamellar microstructure and reduction
of slip length , results in increase in yield stress. Tensile elongation
observed by Filip et al. [46] at intermediate cooling rates (9 K s1)
was highest due to reduction in slip length with increase in
ductility.
 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557
Table 6
Alloying effect on structure and selected properties of Ti alloys [5,7,16].
Fig. 14. Micro-hardness of CP Ti (as-cast), Ti-.5Sn and Ti-5Sn-,Mo alloys (as-cast)
[50].
Fig. 15. Micro-hardness of TA15 in different heat treatment condition [2].
Da et al. [49] observed that the Vickers hardness of Ti-64 and
reported that the Ti-64 has greater hardness than the CP Ti.
Yu et al. [50] reported that micro-hardness of CP Ti is lower than
the respective Ti–5Sn–based alloys Fig. 14. The Mo alloying ele-
ment in Ti improves the micro-hardness due to solid solution
effect. It was also reported that ternary Ti–5Sn–xMo alloys shows
greater micro-hardness than the binary Ti–5Sn alloy. With increase
2555
in concentration of Mo (1, 3, or 5 wt% Mo to Ti–5Sn) hardness
increases.
Ti–5Sn–7.5Mo shows lower hardness due to a” phase [50].
It was also observed by Jovanovic et al. [51] for Ti6Al4V with
increase in cooling rate because of rapid cooling (martensite for-
mation) hardness increases. Similar result was found by Venkatesh
et al. [10] for Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy. It was observed by Arab et al. [33]
that aging of quenched sample decreases the hardness, as large
amount of martensites decomposes into a acicular. Because of
aging, a structure nucleates and grows in different orientation. Dif-
ferent orientation shows different hardness. It was revealed by Vis-
wanathan et al. [52] and, Keist and Palmer [53] that a grain with
prism plane shows lower hardness than the a grain with basal
plane. Arab et al. [2] observed that the strength of water quenched
TA15 is lowest due to defects produce in large amount during
water quenching while aging significantly improve the strength
but shows lower plasticity. Similarly, for Vicker’s hardness, as
shown in Fig. 15. They also observed that TA15 without heat treat-
ment (as received with bimodal structure) shows highest young
modulus while the air cooled + aging (with lamellar structure)
shows the lowest young modulus.
7. Conclusion and future prospects
The above review article concludes the following points in
terms of titanium and its alloys, heat-treatment and their effect
on microstructure and mechanical properties.
1) From the above review, it is clear that various microstruc-
ture can be developed in titanium alloys.
2) Development of different features in microstructure can be
availed by different processing routes.
3) It is clear that the hardness of the Ti-alloys is highest in the
water quenching due to rapid quenching martensite forma-
tion and least in furnace cooled.
4) Tensile strength of Ti alloys increases in water quenching
while decrease is observed in air cool.
A lot of published work is in the scope to review in the theme of
hot deformation and/or thermo-mechanical deformation. Many
kind of microstructure can be altered by using these techniques.
Few more literature are available on titanium and their alloys,
which are based on specific heat-treatment to alter their micro-
texture, macro texture. That may be a scope to extend the litera-
ture review.
Author contribution statement
Puja yadav: Drafted the full article. Kuldeep K Saxena:
Supervisor.
2556 P. Yadav, K.K. Saxena / Materials Today: Proceedings 26 (2020) 2546–2557

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