Deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of titanium alloys with lamellar microstructure in hot working process: A review

Titanium alloys have been widely used in many industrial clusters such as automotive, aerospace and biomedical industries due to their excellent comprehensive properties. In order to obtain fine microstructures and favorable properties, a well-designed multi-step thermomechanical processing (TMP) is critically needed in manufacturing of titanium components. In making of titanium components, subtransus processing is a critical step to breakdown lamellar microstructure to fine-structure in hot working process and thus plays a key role in tailoring the final microstructure and properties. To realize this goal, huge efforts have been made to investigate the mechanisms of microstructure evolution and flow behavior during the subtransus processing. This paper reviews the recent experimental and modelling progresses, which aim to provide some guidelines for the process design and microstructure tailoring for titanium alloy research community. The characteristics of the initial lamellar microstructure are presented, followed by the discussion on microstructure evolution during subtransus processing. The globularization of lamellar α is analyzed in detail from three aspects, i.e., globularization mechanism, heterogeneity and kinetics. The typical features of flow behaviors and the explanations of significant flow softening are then summarized. The recent advances in modelling of microstructure evolution and flow behaviors in the subtransus processing are also articulated. The current tantalized issues and challenges in understanding of the microstructure evolution and flow behaviors of the titanium alloys with lamellar microstructure are presented and specified in future exploration of them.