The effect of preheat temperature and inter-pass reheating on microstructure and texture evolution during hot rolling of Ti–6Al–4V

The effect of preheat temperature and inter-pass reheating on microstructure and texture evolution during unidirectional hot rolling of Ti–6Al–4V in the alpha + beta field was investigated. Three different heating schedules were used to roll plates at 10% reduction per pass to a 3:1 total reduction (true strain = 1.15): (1) preheat at 955 °C with inter-pass reheating for 3 min, (2) preheat at 955 °C without inter-pass reheating, and (3) preheat at 815 °C with inter-pass reheating for 3 min. Following rolling, each plate was air cooled to simulate production practice. The microstructures and textures were determined using electron-backscatter and X-ray diffraction techniques. The results revealed that the intensity of basal poles decreased along the rolling direction and increased along the normal and transverse directions with decreasing rolling (furnace) temperature or the elimination of reheating between passes.