Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Ti–6Al–4V Alloy upon Exposure to High Heat and Chemical Quenching

Ti–6Al–4V alloy is a lightweight metal that possesses an excellent combination of strength, formability, and corrosion resistance. It can retain its properties at high temperature applications. This is known as α + β Ti-alloy. It is a heat treatable grade in which properties can be varied moderately. In the present study, an experimental work has been carried out to check its ability to retain the mechanical properties like tensile strength, bending strength, and hardness after heating at high temperature of 900 °C for a period of 30 min and then subsequent cooling into pure water, 5% HCl solution and 15% HCl solution. In this way, this work analyses both heat treatability and corrosion resistivity of the α + β Ti-alloy. The effect of chemical quenching was observed on both ‘ultimate tensile strength (UTS)’ and ‘yield strength (YS)’. As soon as the chemical quantity was increased, the UTS value gets decreased. Also, the substantial reduction in YS established that the quenching phenomena lowers the elastic limit of the samples. Furthermore, it was found that a higher concentration of HCl solution improved the sample’s modulus of rigidity during the bending test. Due to lack of lamellar structure in the chemically quenched product, an increment in the hardness was reported.