Changes in hardness and elasticity of a Ti6Al4V alloy under helium irradiation

Ti6Al4V specimens have been irradiated at different temperatures with 200 keV He ions. Microhardness and elastic modulus of the unirradiated and irradiated specimens were measured by means of the nano-indentation technique and analyzed using the Oliver–Pharr method. The indentation depth of all samples is 700 nm, which is comparable in magnitude to the ion range. The subsurface structure of the Ti6Al4V specimens was investigated by the X-ray diffraction technique. The measurements indicate that the microhardness increased with the irradiation temperature from room temperature to 600 °C while the elastic modulus almost monotonically decreased. The Irradiation at 700 °C, however, caused softening and slight increase of the elastic modulus within the surface layer of the specimens. The hardening and reduction of the elastic modulus of the Ti6Al4V alloy under irradiation conditions used in this study is tentatively explained by a model based on the presence of point defects and dispersed obstacles of β-precipitates. The softening and slight increase of elastic modulus of helium-irradiated Ti6Al4V at 700 °C might be related to the coarsening of β-precipitates and formation of the hybrid γ-TiH phase in α-phase.