Titanium Alloys

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Seksak Asavavisithchai

Department of Metallurgical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Chulalongkorn University
E-mail: seksak.a@chula.ac.th
 Titanium Alloys
 Ti alloys are used in airframe structures, landing gear components and jet
engine parts for their unique combination of properties: moderate
density, high strength, long fatigue life, fracture toughness, creep
strength, and excellent resistance to corrosion and oxidation.
 Ti alloys have good mechanical performance at high temperature (up to
500–600°C).
 Currently Ti accounts for 25–30% of the weight of most modern engines.
 The engine components made using Ti are fan blades, shafts and casings
in the inlet region; low-pressure compressors; and plug and nozzle
assemblies in the exhaust section.
 Ti is used as a replacement material for Al in aircraft structures when
corrosion resistance is the prime consideration.
 Ti is often selected for use at temperatures too high for Al or composite
material but where the temperatures/loads do not dictate the use of steel
or nickel superalloys if weight is a key consideration.
Mechanical Properties of Ti Alloys and Others
Effect of Temperature on Ti Alloys
 Use of Ti Alloys
 Aerospace is the single largest market for Ti products; with the industry
consuming about 80% of the global production of the metal. The
aerospace applications of Ti in the USA are approximately:
 Jet engines for commercial aircraft: 37%
 Jet engines for military aircraft: 24%
 Airframes for commercial aircraft: 18%
 Airframes for military aircraft: 12%
 Rockets and spacecraft: 8%
 Helicopters and armaments: 1%
Ti Alloys Used in F-22 Raptor
Requirement of Ti Alloys for Military Aircraft
Trend of Titanium Alloys in Airframes
 Titanium Alloys
 Titanium is named after the Titans, the powerful sons of the earth in Greek
mythology.
 Titanium is the forth abundant metal on earth crust (~ 0.86%) after
aluminium, iron and magnesium
 Not found in its free, pure metal form in nature but as oxides, i.e., ilmenite
(FeTiO3) and rutile (TiO2)
 Found only in small amount in Thailand

Ilmenite (FeTiO3) Ritile (TiO2)

 Physical Properties of Titanium
 Crystal structure HCP (<882.5C)
BCC (>882.5C)
 Atomic diameter 0.320
 Density (gcm-3) 4.54
 Melting point (C) 1667

 Experiences allotropic transformation (α  β) at 882.5C

 Highly react with oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen.
 Difficult to extract  expensive
 Used mainly in wrought forms for advanced applications where cost is not
critical.
 High strength and toughness
 Titanium Alloys
 Relatively new engineering metals
 Been in use as structural materials only since 1952
 Ti alloys attractive because:
 High strength/weight ratio
 High elevated temperature properties (i.e., ~550C)
 Excellent corrosion resistance (particularly in oxidizing acids
and chloride media and in most natural environments)
 Disadvantage is cost i.e., Ti ~6x cost of aluminum and 10x cost of
stainless steel
 However they do compete effectively in areas where strength/weight
and high-elevated temperature properties are of prime importance
(i.e. aerospace)
 Titanium Alloys
 Ti and its alloys have proven to be technically superior and cost-effective
materials of construction for a wide variety of aerospace, industrial, marine
and medical applications.
 In North America, approximately 70% of Ti consumed is utilized for
aerospace applications.
 Due to the expansion of existing applications and the development of new
uses, the greatest growth will occur in the industrial, marine and
commercial sectors.
 Ti is a white metal, and has the best strength to weight ratio among the
metals.
 Ti is very reactive, and because of this it is often used for alloying and
deoxidizing other metals.
 Ti is a more powerful deoxidizer of steel than silicon or manganese.
 Ti Alloys
 Ti is 40% lighter than steel and 60% heavier than aluminum.
 This combination of high strength and low weight makes titanium a very
useful structural metal.
 Ti also features excellent corrosion resistance, which stems from a thin
oxide surface film which protects it from atmospheric and ocean conditions
as well as a wide variety of chemicals.
 There are five grades of what is known as commercially pure or unalloyed
Ti, ASTM Grades 1 through 4, and 7.
 Each grade has a different amount of impurity content, with Grade 1 being
the most pure.
 Tensile strengths vary from 172 MPa for Grade 1 to 483 MPa for Grade 4.
Advantages of Ti Alloys

Density of selected metals

Specific strength vs temperature

 Applications of Ti alloys
 Used mainly in aerospace, marine, chemical, biomedical applications and
sports
High Temperature Properties as Compared to Steels
Selected Physical Properties of Ti as Compared to
Those of Al and Fe
 Pure Ti
 Purity ranges from 99.5-99.0%Ti
 Main alloying elements: Fe, C, O, N (interstitials)
 Can be considered an -phase alloy in which oxygen content determines
the grade and strength
%O equivalent = %O + 2%N + 0.67%C
 Each 0.1%O equivalent of interstitial elements in pure Ti increases
strength by ~120 MPa
 Although interstitials increase strength they decrease toughness
 Therefore if high toughness desired (especially at low temperatures) alloy
will be produced with extra-low interstitials (ELI)
 Commercially Pure Ti
 Commercially pure Ti (>99% Ti) is a low-to-moderate strength metal that is not
well suited for aircraft structures or engines. The yield strength of high-purity Ti
is within the range of 170–480 MPa, which is too low for heavily loaded
aerostructures.
 Pure Ti is rarely, if ever, used in aircraft, but with the ability to retain strength
and ductility at very low temperatures, and therefore is useful for cryogenic
applications.
 An aerospace application of commercially pure Ti is in fuel storage tanks
containing liquid hydrogen for space vehicles. Liquid hydrogen must be stored
below –210°C under normal atmospheric conditions, at which temperature
commercially pure Ti has good strength and toughness.
Effect of Interstitial Content on Impact Toughness of
Pure Titanium
Effect of Interstitial Content on Yield Strength and %
Elongation of Ti
Allotropic Forms of Pure Ti
Phase Diagrams for Binary Ti Alloys
 Alloying System of Ti Alloys

Basic types of phase diagrams for titanium alloys

 Ti Allotropes, Phase Diagram
 Pure Ti:
 L→β (BCC) at 1660C
 β→α (HCP) at 883C
 ρ=4.7 g/cc
 Highly protective TiO2 film
 Diffusion in α 100x slower
than in β
 Origin of better α creep
resistance
 Can be cold-rolled at
room temperature to
>90% without cracking
 Unusual for HCP
metals due to low c/a
ratio
 Deformation Properties of “Pure” Ti
 Relatively high ductility of HCP Ti is attributed to the many operative slip
systems and available twinning planes in the crystal lattice
 i.e. slip occurs on the {1010} prism planes and the {1011} pyramidal
plans as well as on the basal planes
 Twinning in plastic deformation more important in Ti than in Mg, Zn and
Cd
Effects of Alloying Elements
 Ti Alloys
 -Ti and -Ti have different uses on aircraft: -Ti has better creep
resistance and ductility at high temperature than -Ti, which makes it
more suited for aeroengine applications.
 -Ti has higher tensile strength and fatigue resistance than -Ti owing to
fewer slip systems in the BCC crystal, which makes it better suited for
highly-loaded aircraft structures.
 The properties of + -Ti is somewhere between pure -Ti and pure -
Ti. The + -Ti alloys generally have better strength than -Ti alloys
and higher creep strength and ductility than -Ti alloys, which makes
them useful for both aircraft engines and structures.
 Properties of  and -Titanium
 -titanium
 Low-to-medium strength
 Excellent creep resistance at high temperature
 Weldable
 Ductile
 Good toughness

 -titanium
 High strength
 High fatigue resistance
 Fully heat treatable
 Good creep resistance to intermediate temperatures
 Less ductile
 Four Types of Ti Alloys
 Commercially pure (CP) Ti, -Ti and near -Ti alloys
 Generally non-heat treatable and weldable
 Medium strength, good creep strength, good corrosion resistance
 - Ti alloys
 Heat treatable, good forming properties
 Medium to high strength, good creep strength
 -Ti alloys
 Heat treatable and readily formable
 Very high strength, low ductility
 Four Types of Ti Alloys
Grades 1-4 increase in O-C-N
1. “Pure” Ti (99.0 + %Ti) 35% usage
2.  alloy (Ti-5Al-2.5Sn) Grade 5 10% usage
3.  alloy (Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al) ~1% usage
4.  +  alloy Ti-6Al-4V 55% usage
Characteristics of Ti Alloy Families
 -Ti Alloys
 There are two major groups of -Ti alloys known as super- and near-.
 Super- alloys contain a large amount of -stabilizing alloying elements
(>5 wt%) and are composed entirely of -Ti grains.
 Near  alloys contain a large amount of -stabilisers with a smaller
quantity of -stabilising elements (<2 wt%). The microstructure of near-
 alloys consists of a small volume fraction of -Ti grains dispersed
between the much greater volume fraction of -Ti grains.
 Near- alloys have higher strength properties than super- alloys (owing to
the small amount of the hard -Ti phase) and also have excellent creep
resistance at high temperature. Therefore, they are preferred in components
for gas turbine engines and rocket propulsion systems required to operate for
long times at 500–600°C.
 Near- alloys are used more often than super- alloys in aircraft because of
their superior high-temperature properties, particularly strength and creep
resistance.
 The yield strength of most -Ti alloys is 750–1000 MPa.
 -Ti Alloys
 Strengthening of -Ti alloys is achieved by work hardening, solid
solution hardening and grain-size refinement.
 The strength of -Ti alloys cannot be raised by heat treatment, which is
one reason for their use in high-temperature applications (thermal
stability and resistance to thermal ageing).
Mechanical Properties of -Ti Alloys with Al
 -Ti Alloys
 -Ti alloys are produced by the addition of -stabilising elements that
retain the -phase when the metal is cooled rapidly from the transus
temperature.
 The strength and fatigue resistance of -Ti alloys is generally higher than
the -Ti alloys. However, the use of -Ti alloys is very low; accounting
for less than a few percent of all the Ti used by the aerospace industry
owing to their low creep resistance at high temperature.
 The Boeing 777 uses -Ti alloys in many components, including landing
gear, exhaust plugs, nozzles, and sections of the nacelle.
 The two most common -Ti alloys for fan discs of gas turbine engines;
Ti–5Al–2Zr–2Sn–4Cr–4Mo and Ti–6Al–2Sn–4Zr–6Mo
 The yield strength of most -Ti alloys is 1150 - 1300 MPa (-Ti alloys is
750–1000 MPa). The higher strength is the result of greater solid solution
hardening together with precipitation hardening.
-Ti Alloys
 +-Ti Alloys
 +-Ti alloys are by far the most important group of Ti alloys used in
aircraft. These alloys are produced by the addition of -stabilisers and -
stabilisers to promote the formation of both -Ti and -Ti grains at room
temperature.
 The popularity of +-Ti alloys stems from their excellent high
temperature creep strength, ductility and toughness (from the -Ti phase)
and high tensile strength and fatigue resistance (from the -Ti phase).
 Of the many types of +-Ti alloys, the most important is Ti–6Al–4V
(IMI318), which makes up more than one-half the sales of Ti in the
United States and Europe, and is the most used Ti alloy in aircraft.
 Ti–6Al–4V is used in both jet engines and airframes; it accounts for
about 60% of the Ti used in jet engines and up to 80–90% for airframes.
 +-Ti Alloys
 The maximum operating temperature limit of Ti–6Al–4V under creep
conditions is 300–450°C and, therefore, this alloy is used for the fan and
cooler parts of the engine compressor.
 Ti–6Al–4V is the most commonly used Ti alloy in airframes, and is
found in highly-loaded structures such as wing boxes, stiffeners, spars
and skin panels.
 The mechanical properties of +-Ti alloys are often between those of
-Ti and -Ti alloys.
 Similar comparisons can be made for other properties, including creep
strength, fatigue resistance, fracture toughness, ductility and ultimate
tensile strength.
 The strength of +-Ti alloys is derived from several hardening
processes, including solid solution hardening, grain boundary
strengthening and work hardening.
Microstructure of +-Ti Alloys
+-Ti Alloys
Thank You for Your Attention