Crystallographic orientation evolution during the development of tri-modal microstructure in the hot working of TA15 titanium alloy

Highlights: • Crystallographic orientation in developing tri-modal microstructure is revealed. • Equiaxed α do not keep while lamellar α and secondary α keep Burgers OR with β phase. • The orientation of equiaxed α have little relation with processing parameters. • Lamellar α present variant selection during its formation and varies with processing. • Variant selection of secondary α is intensified by lamellar α but process-independent. The crystallographic orientation evolution and its dependence on processing parameters during the development of tri-modal microstructure of titanium alloy were studied by the thermal-mechanical processing tests and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) examination. It is found that the development of tri-modal microstructure undergoes two stages: firstly, bimodal microstructure consisting of equiaxed α (α_p) and transformed β matrix (β_t: a mix of secondary α phase (α_s) and β phase) is formed after first-stage near-β forging; then, the tri-modal microstructure consisting of α_p, lamellar α phase (α_l) and β_t are obtained after the following heat treatment. The equiaxed α in final tri-modal microstructure does not follow the Burgers orientation relationship (OR) with β phase. Its crystallographic orientation is hardly influenced by the hot processing parameters. The lamellar α in tri-modal microstructure is right the undissolved secondary α of bimodal microstructure (obtained after first step) during the heating process of the second step. Both of them keep the Burgers OR with β phase, however, the dissolution of secondary α present selectivity to some extent making the variant selection degree of lamellar α greater than that of secondary α. The variant selection degree of lamellar α in tri-modal microstructure decreases with increasing the cooling rate, deformation degree and strain rate of near-β forging. The secondary α in tri-modal microstructure is precipitated from β phase and obeys the Burgers OR with β phase during the cooling process of the second step. The existing lamellar α plays a strengthening role in the variant selection during its precipitation. While the cooling rate, deformation degree and strain rate of near-β forging show limited effect on the probabilities of each type of misorientation and variant selection degree of secondary α.