Crystallographic Features of Phase Transformations during the Continuous Cooling of a Ti6Al4V Alloy from the Single-Phase β-Region

Crystallographic relationships between α- and β-phases resulting from phase transformations, which took place during the continuous water quenching (WQ), air cooling (AC) and furnace cooling (FC) of a Ti6Al4V plates solution treated at 1065 °C, were investigated by methods of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). WQ, AC and FC resulted in typical martensite, basket-weave and parallel-plate Widmanstatten structures, respectively. The experimental distribution of α/β-misorientations deviated from BOR at set discrete angles close to 22, 30, 35 and 43°. The experimental spectra of angles were confirmed by theoretical calculations of the possible misorientations between the α and β phases through the β_o→α→β_II -transformation path based on Burgers orientation relationship (BOR). Joint analysis of the experimental data and theoretical calculations revealed that the secondary β_II-phase was precipitated according to the sequence β_o→α→β_II during continuous cooling from the single-phase β-region. Similar spectra for α/β-phase misorientations for all investigated cooling rates acknowledged the similar transformation mechanisms and dominant shear component of the phase transformations.