Materials Science & Engineering A 580 (2013) 105–113

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Materials Science & Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Micromechanical behavior study of α phase with different

morphologies of Ti–6Al–4V alloy by microindentation
Junzhe Dong n, Fuguo Li, Chengpeng Wang
State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, PR China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In order to investigate four typical morphologies of α phase, including Platelet α, α case, Equiaxed α, and
Received 7 April 2013 Martensite α, microindentation tests of Ti–6Al–4V under different heat treatment conditions were
Accepted 6 May 2013 performed with various indentation loads from 50 mN to 4900 mN and two loading speeds of
Available online 21 May 2013
9.6841 mN/s and 103.7053 mN/s by a sharp Berkovich indenter. The microhardness H, young's modulus
Keywords: E, initial yield stress sy and strain hardening exponent n were obtained by means of Oliver–Pharr method
Ti–6Al–4V alloy and reverse analysis algorithms. The results show that H of four typical morphologies decreases with the
Alpha phase increase of indentation load. When loads are above around 2000 mN, H of Equiaxed α is the largest.
Morphology However, when loads fall down below 450 mN, H of α case is the largest. This phenomenon can be
Microindentation experiments n
explained by indentation size effects (ISE) and degree of ISE can be indicated by variable hH . E of four
typical morphologies also decreases with the increase of indentation load, which can be explained by
damage during indentation. Among four morphologies, damage could be easily generated and spread
within Equiaxed α. But it is difficult for α case. Moreover, sy and n remain constant with different loads in
four morphologies. The working hardening effect becomes weaker as n becomes larger.
& 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Recently, with the development of material producing, the
dimensions of new material and device become smaller and it
has been found that there are some differences in mechanical
behaviors between micromechanical and macromechanical levels.
It is difficult for the conventional testing methods to measure the
micromechanical properties of nano-materials. Therefore, micro-
indentation and nanoindentation tests have been widely used to
probe the micromechanical behavior of various materials at small
scales, such as CuAlNi shape memory alloy [1], Ti–6Al–4V alloy
[2,3], aluminum [4], copper [5], composite [6] and other materials
[7–10]. The microindentation or nanoindentation test provides
precise measurement and has advantages of celerity, accuracy, and
nondestructiveness [3], which determines and contributes to its
increasing popularity in the future.
As a two phase alloy, Ti–6Al–4V alloy is one of the most
important titanium alloys in aerospace industries, due to its low
density and attractive mechanical and corrosion resistant proper-
ties [11–13]. Many aspects of Ti–6Al–4V, including the superplastic
deformation ability [14], the influence of α platelet on plastic
flowing [15], and the microstructural mechanisms during hot
working [16] have been studied. Although many researchers have
investigated the microstructural and mechanical behaviors of Ti–
6Al–4V alloy under different hot working conditions [17–22],
researches on morphology of α phase have been rarely done.
It is well known that different microstructures can be obtained
under different processing technology and subsequent heat treat-
ment. These microstructures are made up of α phase displayed in
various morphologies and β phase used as matrix. The properties
of α phase and β phase and their volume fraction mainly influ-
enced by the chemical compositions and microstructures are
closely related to mechanical properties [23], so it can be inferred
that the morphologies of α phase are important to improve the
properties of Ti–6Al–4V alloy. A clear scientific understanding on
morphology of α phase is necessary.
This work aims to investigate micromechanical behavior of
different morphologies of α phase and provide evidence of the
coming study on materials in a smaller scale. Meanwhile, results of
this study can provide reference to performance design of titanium
alloys, organizing computing, and hot working technology as well.
2. Experimental procedure

The nominal chemical compositions of as-received Ti–6Al–4V

n
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 29 88474117; fax: +86 29 88492642.
alloy are shown in Table 1. The specimens were cylindrical (8 mm
E-mail addresses: jorge@mail.nwpu.edu.cn, diameter and 3 mm height) and the optical micrograph of the
dongjunzhe1989@163.com (J. Dong). initial specimen is shown in Fig. 1. It can be seen that

0921-5093/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2013.05.032
106 J. Dong et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 580 (2013) 105–113

Table 1 According to the Oliver and Pharr's model [26,27], the unload-
Chemical composition of as-received Ti–6Al–4V billet. ing curve can be described as
Main component (wt%) Impurities (wt%) P ¼ B  ðh−hf Þm ð2Þ

Al V Ti Fe C H O where B and m are fitting coefficients, hf is the residual depth after

unloading.
6.02 3.78 Balance 0.08 0.007 0.0082 0.074 Microhardness H can be obtained as
P max
H¼ ð3Þ
Q
Q as the effective contact area can be obtained by the following
equation:
2
Q ¼ Khc ð4Þ
where K is a constant related with indenter, whose value is 24.56
for Berkovich indenter [28], hc is effective depth of indentation and
can be calculated as following:
P max
hc ¼ hm −γ ð5Þ
S
where γ is a coefficient (0.75 for Berkovich indenter [29]). S is the
contact stiffness, which can be obtained as following:
dP


S¼
¼ m  Bðhm ¼ hf Þm−1 ð6Þ
dh h ¼ hm
The simplified modulus En can be described as:
pffiffiffi
π S
En ¼  pffiffiffiffi ð7Þ
Fig. 1. Initial microstructure of the as received Ti–6Al–4V alloy. 2β Q

microstructure of initial specimens consisted of equiaxed primary where β is a indenter constant (1.05 for Berkovich indenter [30]).
α grains (hexagonal close-packed) of about 10 μm average dia- The relationship between En and Young's modulus E is given as
meter and intergranular β grains. Managed as the heat treatment following:
conditions in Table 2, the specimens were carefully ground with  −1
1 1−νi 2
sand paper. Then, they were polished with 5 μm and 1 μm E ¼ ð1−ν2 Þ n − ð8Þ
E Ei
diamond to mirror finish. Subsequently, the specimens were
etched with Kroll's Reagent (1HF, 9HCl, and 90H2O) for 5 s to where ν is Poisson's ratio to be taken as 0.33 for Ti–6Al–4V alloy. Ei
reduce the influence of surface hardening and observed by and νi are Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of the indenter
OLYMPUS PM3 optical microscope. Finally, microindentation whose values are 1141 GPa and 0.07 for diamond indenter,
experiments were performed using the commercial MCT W501 respectively [31].
equipped with a Berkovich diamond indenter at room tempera-
ture under the laboratory environment. Some researchers [24,25] 3.2. Yield stress sy and strain hardening component n
had proved that loading speed exerted little influence on mea-
surement of Young's modulus E and microhardness H. Microin- The behavior of Ti–6Al–4V alloy under room temperature
dentation experiments of this work were only performed with two follows Power law elasto–plastic stress–strain principle:
loading speeds (low loads ( o450 mN) at 9.6841 mN/s and high (
loads at 103.7053 mN/s, respectively). And maximum loads con- Eε; f or s ≤sy
s¼ ð9Þ
ducted on specimens were as following: 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, Rεn ; f or s 4 sy
300, 350, 400, 450, 700, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000, 3500, 4500, 4600,
where R is a strength coefficient, n is the strain hardening
4700, 4800 and 4900 mN. Notably, each test was conducted five
exponent, sy is the initial yield stress, ε is the strain. The elasto–
times and the average values were calculated in order to eliminate
plastic stress–strain relation equation is shown in Fig. 3.
the errors.
εr is the strain that excesses yield strain εy. So, Eq. (9) can be
rewritten as
(
3. Calculation methods Eε; for s ≤sy
s ¼ s ð1 þ E ε Þn ; for s 4 s ð10Þ
y sy r y
3.1. Young's modulus E and microhardness H
Presently, Cheng and Cheng [33,34] and Tunvisut et al. [35]
A typical P–h curve in instrumented indentation test is shown in proposed dimensional analysis to obtain sy and n. For a Berkovich
Fig. 2. Two important parameters (the maximum indentation depth indenter, the equation of P is [36]:
hm and the maximum load Pmax) can be obtained from P–h curve.
P ¼ Pðh; E; v; Ei ; vi ; sc ; nÞ ð11Þ
According to Kick's law, the loading curve can be expressed as
2 where sc is the representative stress corresponding the represen-
P ¼ Ch ð1Þ
tative strain εc.
where P is the indenter load, h is the indenter displacement and C is a The equation can be simplified by introducing En as
variable depending on the elastic–plastic material properties as well
as indenter geometry. P ¼ Pðh; En ; sc ; nÞ ð12Þ
 J. Dong et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 580 (2013) 105–113 107

Table 2
Heat treatment and corresponding microstructure.

Order Heat treatment parameters Microstructure

a Heated to 1000 1C, FC 750 1C with holding time of 30 min, WC Platelet α

b Heated to 1000 1C, FC 750 1C with holding time of 1 h, WC α case
c Heated to 1000 1C, FC 850 1C with holding time of 2 h, WC Equiaxed α
d Heated to 1000 1C with holding time of 1 h, WC α prime (hexagonal martensite)

NB:WC represents water cooling, FC represents furnace cooling.

Π2 is also a dimensionless function as:

 n 
E S
Π2 ; n ¼ n ¼ ð−1:40557n3 þ 0:77526n2 þ 0:15830n
sc E hm
  n 3
E
−0:06831Þ ln þ ð17:93006n3 −9:22091n2 −2:37733n
s0:033
  n 2
E
þ0:86295Þ ln þ ð−79:99715n3 þ 40:55620n2 þ 9:00157n
s0:033
  n 
E
−2:54543Þ ln þ ð122:65069n3 −63:88418n2 −9:58936n
s0:033
þ6:20045Þ ð17Þ
So, C can be calculated through Eq. (1). s0.033 and n can
be obtained through Eqs. (14) and (17). Finally, sy is calculated
Fig. 2. A typical P–h curve in instrumented indentation test.
by Eq. (10).

4. Results and analysis

4.1. Morphology of α phase

The morphologies of specimens processed by different heat

treatment are shown in Fig. 4. There are four typical morpholo-
gies: Platelet α (Fig. 4(a)), α case (Fig. 4(b)), Equiaxed α (Fig. 4(c)),
and Martensite α (also called α prime) (Fig. 4(d)). The widmann-
statten structure (Fig. 4(a)) can be generally obtained by cooling
from the temperature above β transformation temperature
(around 990 1C) with a moderate speed. It is featured by original
integrated β grain boundary and thick Platelet α. Making up for
Fig. 3. Power law elasto-plastic stress-strain behavior [32]. large proportion of widmannstatten structure, Platelet α is
arranged in partial crossing lamella with a small length–width
According to Π theorem in dimensional analysis, the equation ratio. The α case microstructure (marked by red arrow in Fig. 4(b))
above can be rewritten as: consists of successive block α phase. α case is formed with a high
 n  level of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon by exposing to air under high
2 E
P ¼ sc h Π 1 ; n ð13Þ temperature and situated around the outer layer. In Fig. 4(c),
sc Equiaxed structure is made up of hexagonal or spherical Equiaxed
where Π1 is a dimensionless function. α phase and these small components have similar dimensions in
Π1 function is independent of n when εc is equal to 0.033 [36]. each direction. Compared with other morphologies, its size is the
s0.033 can be obtained as: smallest. As shown in Fig. 4(d), martensite is generally produced
 n    n 3 " 2 # by non-diffusion transformation. It can be found that supersatu-
E C E En rated non-equilibrium hexagonal α phase with acicular shape is
Π1 ¼ ¼ −1:131 ln þ 13:635
s0:033 s0:033 s0:033 s0:033 generated. The acicular shape-like component is hexagonal
  Martensite α or can be called α prime.
En
−30:594 þ 29:267 ð14Þ
s0:033 4.2. Micromechanical properties
Similarly, the unloading slope can be described as:
The classical load–displacement curves (P–h curves) of
dP u dP u
¼ ðh; En ; sc ; nÞ ð15Þ Equiaxed α are shown in Fig. 5. P–h curves under various loads
dh dh are marked by different colors. Starting from the left side, the
where Pu is the unloading force. curves represented loads of 50 mN to 4900 mN, respectively.
Dimensionless function at h ¼hm is: According to Fig. 5, it can be found that P–h curves with various
 n  loads show similar shape, which reflects a better repeatability of
dP u

E the indentation tests. According to the equations mentioned in

¼ S ¼ En hm Π 2 ; n ð16Þ
dh h ¼ hm sc Sections 3.1 and 3.2, the values of E, H, sy and n can be calculated.
108 J. Dong et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 580 (2013) 105–113

Fig. 4. (a) Platelet α, (b) α case, (c) Equiaxed α and (d) Martensite α (α prime).

4.2.1. Microhardness
It is well known that four different hardening mechanisms
exist in metallic materials and are present in titanium alloys: solid
solution hardening, dislocation hardening, boundary hardening,
and precipitation hardening. In this paper, indentations were
performed exactly within α phase, so only dislocation hardening
mechanism contributes to H. Generally, the nature of plastic
deformation is the movement of dislocation, which can be divided
into two parts: Statistically Stored Dislocations (SSDs) and Geo-
metrically Necessary Dislocations (GNDs). In the micro scales, SSDs
are randomly located and their slip results in even plastic
deformation. While GNDs are arranged periodically and regularly,
causing strong obstacles to slip. Strain gradient plasticity model
believes that a large strain gradient is generated in indentation,
causing large amount of GNDs and inhomogeneous plastic defor-
mation. GNDs have a strengthening effect on hardness and
enhance in duration of material [37]. Indentation size effects
(ISE) caused by GNDs eventually appears.
In order to describe the ISE of materials accurately, Nix and Gao Fig. 5. P–h curves of Equiaxed α.

proposed a new model of H and h, based on Taylor dislocation and

geometrically necessary dislocation model [38,39]. For a Berkovich indenter, the equation of density of GNDs (ρG)
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi is [42]:
n
H h 3 tan 2 θ
¼ 1þ H ð18Þ ρG ¼ ð21Þ
H0 h 2bh
By plugging Eq. (19) into Eq. (20), ρs is as following:
where H0 is the hardness regardless of strain gradient plasticity,
n
hH is a length that characterizes the depth dependence of hard- 3 tan 2 θ
ρS ¼ n ð22Þ
ness. 2bhH
pffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffi Fig. 6 shows that H of four typical morphologies evidently
H 0 ¼ 3 3αμb ρS ð19Þ decreases with the increase of h. In addition, the rapid decrease of
H occurs with low working loads (o700 mN). However, its values
remain almost the same with high loads. To be specific,
 2
n 81 2 μ H decreases from initial results ranging between 19.2 GPa and
hH ¼ bα tan 2 θ ð20Þ
2 H0 4.8 GPa to final results ranging between 3.2 GPa and 1.64 GPa. This
phenomenon may be explained by ISE in microindentation.
where α is a constant, whose value is 0.3–0.5. b is burgers vector It can be found from Eq. (18) that square of H plotted against
with a value of 0.2388 nm [40]. ρs is the density of SSDs. θ is the the reciprocal of h should be a straight line, as shown in
n
angle between surface of the indenter and plane of the surface Fig. 7. hH of four morphologies can be obtained by calculating
with the value of 19.71 for Berkovich indenter [41]. slope of linear relationship between (H/H0)2 and h−1. The results
 J. Dong et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 580 (2013) 105–113
Fig. 6. H of four typical morphologies.
Fig. 7. Relationship between (H/H0)2 and 1/h of Equiaxed α.
n
are shown in Fig. 8. In each type of four morphologies hH is
constant. According to Eq. (22), ρs of the same morphologies does
not change during indentation process. Hardening effect caused by
SSDs does not change and the variation of H is caused by GNDs.
According to Eq. (21), it is obvious that with the increase of h,
values of ρG decrease. So the strengthening effect on hardness
caused by GNDs is weakened. As for the situation of rapid decrease
of H with low loads, Eq. (21) can be used as good evidence. When
low loads are at a low level (o700 mN), h is relatively small. A
minor decrease of h can result in significant change of ρG. There-
fore, the change of H caused by strengthening effect of GNDs is
obvious and phenomenon of ISE is apparent. However, when the
loads are above the 4500 mN, h is relatively large. The decrease of
h has almost no influence on values of ρG. So, strengthening effect
caused by GNDs on H is not obvious and H with high loads does
not change much.
In order to interpret H of four different morphologies, H under
loads of 50 mN and under loads of 4500 mN are picked up as
shown in Fig. 9. The density of dislocation (ρ) of four morphologies
can be obtained by Eqs. (21) and (22), which is shown in Fig. 10.
And ρ under loads of 50 mN and under loads of 4500 mN are also
picked up as shown in Fig. 11.
Shown in Fig. 6, when loads are above around 2000 mN,
Equiaxed α has the highest value, followed by Martensite α.
109
n
Fig. 8. hH of four typical morphologies.
Fig. 9. Values of microhardness H under 50 mN and 4500 mN of four typical
morphologies.
Platelet α has the lowest H. This phenomenon can be explained
by dislocation hardening effect on H. For Equiaxed α, hexagonal or
spherical shape and countless phase boundaries as well as its
small size contribute to the fact that dislocations accumulate easily
in Equiaxed α. ρ of Equiaxed α is the largest among four morphol-
ogies as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. Martensite α has the form of small
acicular leaf and they interact with each other. Phase boundary
between these little leaf block movements of the dislocations. And
ρ of Martensite α is lower than that of Equiaxed α and a little more
than that of Platelet α. Although α case is displayed in big block
around the edge, which is not suitable for dislocation accumula-
tion, oxygen and nitrogen content of α case is relatively high. This
situation makes α case hard and brittle, leading to its higher H
than Platelet α.
However, when loads fall down below 450 mN, α case has the
largest value, followed by Martensite α. And Platelet α has the
lowest value. This phenomenon can also be explained by disloca-
tion hardening on H. As shown in Figs. 10 and 11, although ρ of α
case is lower than that of Martensite α and similar to that of
Equiaxed α, its H is relatively higher due to high volume of oxygen
and nitrogen. Martensite α has the largest ρ, resulting in second
higher H. ρ of Platelet α is the lowest. So, it has the lowest H.
As discussed above, ρs of the same morphologies does not change
110 J. Dong et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 580 (2013) 105–113

By plugging Eq. (26) into the Eqs. (24) and (25), they can be
rewritten:
H 0 ¼ 3sref εN
eq ð27Þ
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
H ¼ 3sref ε2N
eq þ lη ð28Þ

l, as basic length scale of materials, determines importance of η on

H. However, exact value of l is difficult to measure. Stolken and
Evans [43] used micro-bend test and micro tensile to calculate
n
l, but the counting process is complicated. Actually, hH can be used
to describe l and η easily and illustrate degree of ISE.
Based on Eqs. (27) and (28), (H/H0)2 can be described as:
 2
H lη
¼ 1 þ 2N ð29Þ
H0 εeq

By plugging Eqs. (21) and (23) into (29), it can be rewritten as:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
H 3l tan 2 θ
Fig. 10. Density of dislocation ρ of four typical morphologies. ¼ 1þ ð30Þ
H0 2hε2N eq

Compared Eq. (30) with Eq. (18), it can be found as following:

n 3l tan 2 θ
hH ¼ ð31Þ
2ε2N
eq
n
Therefore, it can be concluded that hH can be used to describe
ISE and the hardening effect caused by ISE is more obvious, if value
n
of hH is higher.

4.2.2. Young's modulus

Young's modulus is a common characterization of damage
evolution and indicates the damage accumulation. If dislocations
accumulate or pile up rapidly, stress concentration occurs and may
surpass the threshold of stress easily during indentation. Thus,
damage is generated and accumulated. As a result, the elastic
properties weakened, resulting in decrease of E. To brittle materi-
als, these dislocations may completely evolve into micro-crack
[44–46]. As for ductile metal, these dislocations can integrate into
a cavity dislocation, but it may not spread immediately.
As shown in Fig. 12, it can be found that E of four typical
Fig. 11. Density of dislocation ρ of four typical morphologies under 50 mN and morphologies decreases with the increase of h as a whole. In
4500 mN. addition, the rapid decrease of E occurs with low working loads
(o700 mN). However, its values remain almost the same with
during indentation process. The changing order of ρ under 50 mN high loads. To be specific, values of E decrease from initial results
is caused by ISE due to GNDs. In order to indicate different degree ranging between 153.03 GPa and 65.44 GPa to the final results
n
of ISE of four morphologies, hH is of great help. ranging between 43 GPa and 4.01 GPa. Similar descending phe-
The strain gradient η reflects the relationship between ISE and nomenon was also found in forged 7050 aluminum alloy [24] and
ρG in microindention tests, which is as following: 0Cr12Mn5Ni4Mo3Al steel [25]. Some researchers found that
decrease of E has close relationship with micro-defects and
η ¼ ρG b ð23Þ
micro-crack which were generated in a hemispherical domain
Under uniaxial tension loading, η is zero and its stress–strain beneath the indenter after indenter load reached the damage
relationship is: threshold [47—49]. Therefore, it can be concluded that increasing
damage caused by accumulated dislocation during the experi-
seq ¼ sref εN
eq ð24Þ ments could explain the descending young's modulus.
In the beginning of deformation, values of dislocations are at
where seq is equivalent stress, sref is reference stress, εeq is the peak as showed in Fig. 10. So, high shear stress is generated
equivalent strain, N (0 o N o1) is plastic hardening index. underneath the indenter or even reaches the theoretical shear
when η is taken into account, equation of seq is rewritten as: stress of materials. The damage of this process accumulates fast
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi and E decreases rapidly. With the increase of h, ρ decreases rapidly
seq ¼ sref ε2N
eq þ lη ð25Þ with low loads and stays at the same level with high loads. At the
end of deformation, ρ is pretty small and remain almost constant.
where l is intrinsic material length in strain gradient plasticity Therefore, damage has been basically saturated and E does not
theory. change much.
According to Nix and Gao [38], equivalent stress has the Looking through each curve of E in Fig. 12, Equiaxed α has the
following relationship with H: largest value of young's modulus, followed by Martensite α. α case
has the lowest values. Because Equiaxed α and Platelet α has better
seq ¼ H=3 ð26Þ plasticity themselves, their relatively high values of E can be
 J. Dong et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 580 (2013) 105–113 111

Fig. 12. E of four typical morphologies. Fig. 13. Values of E under 50 mN and 4500 mN of four typical morphologies.

understood. Due to high volume of oxygen and nitrogen, α case is

hard and brittle and has the poor deformation capacity. So it has
the lowest E. The reason why Martensite α has the second largest E
is not clear and need further research.
Actually, decreases of E can be described by the damage
variable D. According to continuum damage mechanics (CDM), D
shows the deterioration of the mechanical properties of materials
and can be described by [50]:

D ¼ ΔE=E0 ¼ ðE0 −EÞ=E0 ð32Þ

where E0 is defined as initial E of virgin material, ΔE is the change

of young's modulus.
If D is equal to 0, it means that the material is free of damage.
While, if D is equal to 1, the material reaches the maximum values
of damage and will be fractured [51]. Because values of E0 of α
phase in different microstructure were not measured, D measuring
the damage extent cannot be calculated directly. Generally, D is the
ratio of relative difference value to E0. Values of loads above
4500 mN are the final values of young's modulus in the end of Fig. 14. Relationship between 1/D2 and 1/h of Equiaxed α.
damage processing and they do not change much. It can be used to
evaluate D. For comparison, the data of lowest loads of 50 mN is
also picked up, as shown in Fig. 13. usually arranged parallelly. Phase boundary between lamella block
By comparing values of E in Fig. 12 with values of H in Fig. 6, movements of the dislocations, which could not spread and
they have the similar trends. So, the relationship between D and h extend easily. In Fig. 10, Platelet α has the similar ρ with Martensite
can be interpreted like Eq. (18): α, while lower than that of Equiaxed α. The localized stress is
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi relatively high and leads to produce of damage. Martensite α has
1 h
n the form of small acicular leaf and they interact with each other. In
¼ 1þ E ð33Þ addition, it is brittle and hard as well as low plasticity. These small
D h
components act as precipitates, which block the movement of
n
where hE is a length that characterizes the depth dependent of dislocations and cause stress concentration. Equiaxed α is hex-
young's modulus. agonal or spherical and has similar dimensions in each direction. It
Based on experimental data of Equiaxed α, a figure of 1/D2 and is featured by small size and countless phase boundaries, resulting
1/h has been made as shown in Fig. 14. It can be found that 1/D2 in stress concentration and accelerating crack initiation. Because
and 1/h have linear characteristic. So, the relationship displayed in the loads conducted on different morphologies are the same,
Eq. (33) between D and h is reasonable. values of D reflect ability to resist the damage. Therefore, it can
The results of D of four typical morphologies are shown in be conducted that damage could be easily generated and spread
Fig. 15. D of α case is the lowest. While, Platelet α has a higher D within Equiaxed α. But it is difficult for α case.
than α case. The largest D happens to Equiaxed α. This phenom-
enon can be explained by dislocation and stress concentration. α
case in these tests is displayed in big block around the edge and its 4.2.3. Yield stress and strain hardening component
strength is relatively high. It is difficult for dislocations to accu- It is known that sy is the stress required to start dislocation and
mulate or pile-up. As shown in Fig. 10, ρ of α case is the lowest is related to interaction between dislocations and obstacles as well
among four morphologies. As a result, stress concentration is rare as dislocation interaction. The value of n is of major importance in
in it and micro cracks within α case are difficult to produce and forming operations since it represents the stress of instability
grow. In terms of Platelet α, it often has high aspect ratio and is point and controls the amount of uniform plastic strain the
112 J. Dong et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 580 (2013) 105–113

As shown in Fig. 17, sy of α case is the highest (around

2.4078 GPa), followed by that of Martensite α. Platelet α and
Equiaxed α have the similar figure which is the lowest among
four morphologies. However, n has the opposite trend. n of Platelet
α and Equiaxed α are the largest (0.3476 and 0.3369 respectively),
followed by that of α case. Martensite α has the lowest figure. As
discussed above, working hardening mechanism associating with
intertexture of dislocations during deformation is the only hard-
ening mechanisms that occur in four morphologies. Therefore,
relationship between working hardening effect and n can be
analyzed individually. As shown in Fig. 17, it can be concluded
that n is inversely correlated with sy and the working hardening
effect is weaker, if n is higher.

5. Conclusions

In this paper, four typical morphologies with α phase are

obtained through different heat treatment, including Platelet α, α
Fig. 15. Curves of D of four typical morphologies. case, Equiaxed α, and Martensite α. All of them not only have their
unique properties, but also share common ones.

(a) H of four typical morphologies evidently decreases with the

increase of h. When loads are above around 2000 mN, H of
Equiaxed α is the largest. It can be explained by hardening
effect caused by dislocation (including SSDs and GNDs). How-
ever, when loads fall down below 2000 mN, α case has the
largest value, which is closely related with ISE caused by
n
GNDs. Moreover, degree of ISE can be presented by hH .
(b) E of four typical morphologies decrease with the increase of h
as a whole, which can be interpreted by increasing damage
caused by accumulated dislocation. Equiaxed α has the largest
E all the time during the whole process, followed by marten-
site α. The α case has the lowest values. In addition, decreases
of E can be described by the damage variable D and damage
could be easily generated and spread within Equiaxed α among
four morphologies. But it is difficult for α case.
(b) sy and n remain constant with different loads in four morphol-
ogies. n is inversely correlated with sy and the working
Fig. 16. Values of sy and n at different indentation depths.
hardening effect becomes weaker as n becomes larger.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their sincere thanks for the
research grants supported by the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (Grant no. 51275414) and the Aeronautical Science
Foundation of China (Grant no. 2011ZE53059).

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