Microstructure and texture evolution during solidification processing of Ti–6Al–4V

Metal-mold casting and direct laser fabrication of titanium have become topics of great interest to the aerospace industry in recent years due to the strong focus on reducing the acquisition cost of aircraft. However, little is known about the capabilities of these processes with respect to microscale characteristics such as grain morphology, grain size, microstructure, and texture/microtexture. Hence, an extensive research program was undertaken to establish the relationships between processing conditions and microstructural characteristics and to apply finite-element-method process-modeling techniques and phenomenological microstructure-evolution-modeling techniques for the prediction of microstructure during these processes. Selected results from this research are presented.