Microstructure evolution of different loading zones during TA15 alloy multi-cycle isothermal local forging

The microstructure evolution of the TA15 Ti-alloy in different loading zones under two kinds of multi-cycle isothermal local forging (multi-cycle local near-β forging and multi-cycle conventional forging combined with near-β heat treatment) was investigated and the mechanical properties predicted. Under the first processing route, a microstructure with small grain size was obtained with a significant difference in morphology and composition between the first and second loading zones. An equiaxial microstructure with larger size and more α-phase was obtained in the first loading zone. In the second loading zone when cooled by water after multiple forging cycles and a tri-modal microstructure (finely interlaced and disordered lamellar α, transformed β matrix, and a few equiaxed α) was obtained. The second loading zone possesses excellent room and high temperature mechanical properties. Under the second processing route, the relatively large bimodal microstructures in both loading zones are almost identical. When treated using a vacuum annealing furnace after forging, a coarse clustered lamellar secondary α-phase appeared, which has poor mechanical properties.