Influences of deformation strain, strain rate and cooling rate on the Burgers orientation relationship and variants morphology during β → α phase transformation in a near α titanium alloy

High temperature compression deformation studies of Ti–6Al–2Zr–1Mo–1V titanium alloy in full β phase region with different strains/strain rates and then with subsequent varied cooling rates were performed to understand the microstructure evolution. Crystal orientation information and microstructure morphology of all tested samples were investigated by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements. The crystal orientations of prior high temperature β grains were estimated by reconstructing the retained β phase at room temperature. The theoretical crystal orientations of all possible α variants within an investigated prior β grain were calculated according to the Burgers orientation relationship (OR) between parent and product phase. The calculated and experimental results were then compared and analyzed. The influences of deformation strain, strain rate and cooling rate on the Burgers OR between prior β matrix and precipitated α phase were investigated. Full discussions have been conducted by combination of crystal plasticity finite element method (CP-FEM) grain-scale simulation results. The results indicate that external factors (such as deformation strain, strain rate and cooling rate) have a slight influence on the obeying of Burgers OR rule during β → α phase transformation. However, strain rate and cooling rate have a significant effect on the morphology of precipitated α phase.