Applied Ocean Research 68 (2017) 237–243

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Applied Ocean Research

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

Microstructures and properties of TC4 ELI alloy with horizontal EBW

for submersible manned cabin
Pengfei Fu ∗ , Zhiyong Mao, Zhenyun Tang, Kai li, Xichang Wang, Congjin Zuo
Science and Technology on Power Beam Processes Laboratory, Beijing Aeronautical Manufacturing Technology Research Institute, Beijing 100024, China

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

Article history: The welding was one of the technologies to manufacture manned cabin, which was a significant part
Received 13 June 2017 of the submersible. To improve the procedure, horizontal EBW was employed on TC4 ELI alloy with
Received in revised form 6 September 2017 60 mm thickness, and the microstructures and properties of the joints were investigated. The crystals
Accepted 10 September 2017
and microstructures of the welds were homogeneous from the top to bottom, and the microhardness
of the weld was equivalent, which was harder than that of the base metal. The tensile properties of the
Keywords:
joints were homogeneous along the penetration. The tensile strength and yield strength of the joints
EBW (electron beam welding)
were higher than those of the base metal, and the percentage elongation after fracture was 80% of the
Horizontal gun
Titanium alloy
base metal, which indicated the strength mis-match as overmatching. The impact toughnesses of the
Microstructure welds were equivalent along the penetration, which reached 80% of the base metal. The joint specimens
Mechanical properties were bended to 180◦ with no cracks. The investigation verified the excellent procedure and properties of
horizontal EBW, which would make China become one of the countries with the capacity of manufacturing
submersible cabin.
© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
The submersible was a significant carrier to explore the deep-
sea geology, mineral and biology, even to rescue the wreck ships
and search the bombs [1–6]. Only several developed countries had
a few manned submersibles in the world, included Alvin (USA),
Shinkai6500 (Japan), Mir (Russia) and Nautile (France) [1–10] from
2000 to 6500 m depth in the ocean. With the development of Jiao-
long submersible, China has been one of the countries with the
capacity of 7000 m deep-sea exploration [7–9].
Due to the huge depth of the diving, the materials with high
strength and high toughness were essential to the manned cabin.
Not only the high strength steel was suitable for the submersible
manned cabin [11–13], but also was titanium alloy, especially Ti31,
Ti75, Ti80, BT6, Ti6Al4 V, Ti6Al4 V ELI and Ti621 alloy [12–16]. The
diameter of manned cabin was 2 m above, and the thickness was
50 mm–90 mm, and the quality and performance required were
extremely strict. The stamping forming was employed on the upper
and lower hemispheres of the manned cabin in Japan, Europe and
America [12,17–19], and was welded together along the equator by
EBW [11,12,20–28]. While the hemispheres of Jiaolong submersible
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: fupengfei97@163.com (P. Fu).
comprised the seven melon fragments, which were welded by nar-
row gap argon arc welding [5,7,8,13,19].
The investigations on the manned submersibles were mainly in
Japan and America. Takeda T, et al. [20] studied the weldability of
10Ni−8Co steel by GTA for the 6000 m submersible, and studied
the strength and notch toughness of the joints, which related to
the nitrogen and oxygen content. Endo M, et al. [21,22,25] stud-
ied the procedure of 10Ni-8Co steel with EBW for Shinkai2000
submersible, and the strength and impact toughness were respec-
tively 120kgf/mm2 and 15kgf.m, and they also studied Ti6Al4 V
ELI with EBW. Imai Y, et al. [24] studied the welding for the steel
with 80kgf/mm2 against the cracking, and welded a model with
the materials and evaluated the procedure. Yokota K, et al. [26]
employed EBW on Ti6Al4 V ELI alloy for the manned cabin, and
studied the collapse behavior, which confirmed the procedure was
reasonable. Shinohara T, et al. [27] carried on the collapse to the
manned cabin model with 150 cycles under the pressurization up
to 680kgf/cm2 for Shinkai6500, which had no influence on the col-
lapse behavior for the model with EBW. Takagawa S, et al. [28]
studied the welding fabrication on the material for Shinkai6500
submersible, and the collapse behavior carried on, and proved the
procedures were effective. The manned cabins of new Alvin were
manufactured with Ti6Al4 V ELI alloy [4,10,29–34], and the inter-
nal diameter and thickness were respective 2.1 m and 71 mm, and
EBW were employed on Alvin in America. Although the proce-
dures of titanium alloy with EBW were introduced for the cabin,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2017.09.004
0141-1187/© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
238 P. Fu et al. / Applied Ocean Research 68 (2017) 237–243
Fig. 1. sketching of EBW with horizontal gun.
Fig. 2. EBW a, spot welding b, welding.
the microstructures and mechanical properties were not discussed
along the penetration.
The titanium alloy with heavy thickness was used to the sub-
mersible cabin with 4500 m diving in China, EBW were primarily
employed on the cabin. EBW with horizontal gun was hardly influ-
enced by the gravity, and the welding keyhole improved the gas
escape and reduced the porosities. To improve the procedures and
Fig. 3. Weld appearance a, Front b, Back c, X ray inspection.
properties of the submersible cabin, we investigated horizontal
EBW on titanium alloy with 60 mm thickness, and studied the
microstructures and properties along the penetration. The inves-
tigation would verify the procedure and properties of horizontal
EBW to the equator joint connecting the upper and lower hemi-
spheres, which would make China become one of the countries
with the capacity of manufacturing submersible cabin.
2. Experimental procedures
The materials were TC4 ELI alloy with 60 mm thickness, limited
H, O and N content. The compositions and properties were
respectively shown in Tables 1 and 2, with ␣ + ␤ dual phase
microstructure.
Electron beam horizontally penetrated titanium alloy with
welding keyhole, and the heat input made the metal melted,
Fig. 4. Weld macromorphology.
 P. Fu et al. / Applied Ocean Research 68 (2017) 237–243 239

Table 1
Chemical components of TC4 ELI alloy(wt%).

Element Al V Fe C N H O Ti

Contain 6.37 4.30 0.20 0.01 0.01 0.001 0.12 balances

Table 2
Mechanical properties of TC4 ELI alloy at room temperature.

Tensile strength Rm /MPa Yield strength Rp0.2 /MPa Percentage elongations A/% Reduction ratios  /% Impact toughness KV 2 /J

917 844.5 13.25 33.5 37.5

solidified and formed (Fig. 1). The gravity was vertical to electron
beam and molten pool, which had a little influence on the weld
formation. The horizontal EBW improved the welding quality.
The dimensions of the plates were 200 mm × 200 mm, and the
thickness was 60 mm. Spot welding and horizontal EBW were
employed on the butt welding (Fig. 2), and the parameters were
given in Table 3. Spot welding with electron beam was applied as
a tack welding, and the numbers were 5 points.
The weld appearance with horizontal EBW was shown as Fig. 3.
The front and back of the welds were fine, and the widths respec-
tively were 14 mm and 5 mm, and the reinforcement was 2–3 mm.
The diameter of the porosities was less than 1 mm, and the numbers
were less than 2 points, which conformed to I class of ISO15614-
11 by X ray detection. According to GJB 3763A, the annealing with
650 ◦ C for 3 h was employed on the welding samples, which effec-
tively relieved the residual stresses.

Fig. 5. Microstructures of the joints.

240 P. Fu et al. / Applied Ocean Research 68 (2017) 237–243

Table 3
EBW parameters.

Process Voltage Ua , kV Current Ib , mA Focusing If , mA Speed v, mm/s

Spot welding with electron beam 150 10 2320 –

EBW 150 260 2320 8

Fig. 6. Hardness along weld penetration a, top and middle b, middle II and bottom.

Fig. 7. Tensile specimens a, location b, appearance.

Fig. 8. Tensile properties a, Tensile strength b, Elongations and reduction ratios.

 P. Fu et al. / Applied Ocean Research 68 (2017) 237–243 241

Fig. 9. Tensile fracture a, macro fracture b, local location of the fracture.

Fig. 10. Impact specimens a, Sampling location b, Macro appearance.

The macro morphology and the microstructures of the joints
were observed by DM6000 M Leica microscope. The microhard-
nesses (Vickers hardness) of the joints were conducted and
analyzed by TUKON2500 Vivtorinox hardness tester. The mechan-
ical properties of the joints were carried on, including tensile test,
impact test and bending test.
The microhardnesses of the joints were measured and analyzed
(Fig. 6). The microhardnesses of the top weld were equivalent to
those of the middle I, and the mean was 314–317 HV0.2. The hard-
ness gradient of HAZ in the top became sharp, which trended to
be uniform in middle I. The microhardnesses of base metal were
280–300 HV0.2, which were lower than those of the weld. The
microhardness in the bottom weld increased, and the mean was
324 HV0.2 higher than that of middle II (in Fig. 6b). Compared with

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Microstructures

The macro morphology of the joint comprised the weld, HAZ

and base metal (Fig. 4). The weld of horizontal EBW was parallel,
and the widths of the weld and HAZ respectively were 8.4 mm and
2 mm at the location of 1/2 penetration. The coarse columnar crys-
tals grew preferentially as epitaxial crystallizations in weld center.
The short columnar crystals and coarse equiaxed crystals existed
in fusion line, and the equiaxed crystals grew in HAZ. The crystals
grew slightly in the base metals. The crystal sizes of the weld were
almost homogeneous from the top to the bottom.
The microstructures of the joints were observed from the top
to bottom, which were respectively at the locations of 8 mm,
22 mm, 36 mm and 50 mm. The microstructures comprised the
weld (Fig. 5a,d,g,j), fusion line (Fig. 5b,e,h,k) and HAZ (Fig. 5c,f,i,l).
The microstructures of the weld were ␣’ martensites, and ␣’
martensites with a little mixed (␣+␤) were in HAZ, which were
uniform from the top to bottom. Fig. 11. Impact properties.
242 P. Fu et al. / Applied Ocean Research 68 (2017) 237–243

Fig. 12. Impact fracture a, Macro fracture appearance b, fracture amplification.

Fig. 13. Bending specimens a, Sampling location b, Macro appearance.

the top, the hardnesses of HAZ in midlle II and bottom changed
gently, equivalent to middle I.
The microhardnesses of the weld trended to be uniform from
the top to bottom, which were higher than those in HAZ and base
metal.
3.2. Tensile properties
The tensile specimens of the joints were prepared for four pieces
along the penetration, and the diameter and length respectively
were 5 mm and 71 mm, and the weld was in the center (Fig. 7).
The tensile strength Rm of the joints gradually increased then
decreased from top to bottom, which was above 920 MPa (Fig. 8.).
The yield strength Rp0.2 increased to 880 MPa. The percentage elon-
gations A increased from 10% to 12% along the penetration, and
the reduction ratios Z gradually decreases then increased. The ten-
sile strength and yield strength of the joints were uniform along
the penetration, which were higher than those of base metals. The
mean of the elongations was 11%, which was 80% of base metals.
The factor of strength mis-match was yield strength of the weld
divided by that of the base metal. When the factor was 1, the
strength mis-match was equal matching. But the factor was more
than 1 or less than 1, which were respectively defined as over-
matching and undermatching. Because the strengths of the joints
were higher than those of the base metals, the strength mis-match
with horizontal EBW was overmatching. The fractures ruptured in
base metals (Fig. 9). When the tensile stress was lower than yield
strength of the weld, the base metal near the weld shrank in both
sides, which showed double diameter shrinkages. When the stress
was higher than tensile strength of the base metal, the specimens
ruptured at the location of diameter shrinkage
3.3. Impact properties
The hardness and strength of the weld were highest among the
joints, and the impact specimens of the weld were prepared to
evaluate the integrity of the joints. The impact specimens were 10
mm × 10 mm × 55 mm, and the V notch (2 mm) was in the center
of the weld (Fig. 10).
The trend of absorbing energy Akv was similar with that of
impact toughness akv along the penetration (Fig. 11). The impact

Fig. 14. Bending appearance a, weld top specimen b, weld bottom specimen.
 P. Fu et al. / Applied Ocean Research 68 (2017) 237–243
toughness of the weld hardly altered along the penetration, and
the mean was 37.4 J/cm2 , which reached 80% of the base metal.
The impact fractures comprised the fibrous zone, radiating zone
and shear lip (Fig. 12). The fibrous zone lied on the top of V notch
root, which was the minimum part of the fracture. The part of the
fracture was flat and rough, and the radiating stripe arose with the
upward extension, which was referred as radiating zone. The rup-
ture arose near other three surfaces with rough arc zone, referred as
shear lip. The radiating zone was the maximum with the tenacious
nests, which indicated the ductile fracture.
3.4. Bending properties
From the condition of manned cabin and evaluation of China
classification society, we prepared two side bending specimens
of the joints along the penetration, which also conformed to
the property requirement of manned cabin. The dimension were
400 mm × 26 mm × 10 mm (Fig. 13).
The tests were conducted with side bending, and the diameter
of bending axis was 160 mm. The bending angles reached 180◦ , and
the crack defects had not arose in the surface (Fig. 14).
The procedure of horizontal EBW was suitable for 60 mm thick-
ness TC4 ELI alloy to the submersible cabin, and the qualities and
properties conformed to the submersible with 4500 m depth.
4. Conclusion
(1) Horizontal EBW was employed on TC4 ELI alloy with 60 mm
thickness, and the front and back welds were fine, which con-
formed to I class of ISO15614-11.
(2) The coarse columnar crystals were in the weld, and the
microstructures were ␣’, which were uniform from the top to
the bottom. The microhardnesses along the penetration were
equivalent in the weld, which were harder than those of the
base metal.
(3) The tensile strength and yield strength of the joint were higher
than those of the base metal, and the percentage elongation was
80% of the base metal. The properties manifested the strength
mis-match of EBW as overmatching.
(4) The impact toughnesses of the weld were equivalent along the
penetration, which reached 80% of the base metal. The radiating
zone was flat and rough with tenacious nests, which indicated
the ductile fracture. The bending angles of the joints reached
180◦ .
Acknowledgments
The researches were financially supported by National 863
Projects (2014AA09A111), Special major science and Tech-
nology (2010ZX04007-041) and Fund of Advanced Research
(XXXXX4503021005, 2010XX25006) grant. The authors thank for
the financial support from Science and Technology on Power Beam
Processes Laboratory.
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