A novel study on mechanically alloyed nanocrystalline Ti-6Al-4V alloy fabricated by spark plasma sintering

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research work was to synthesize Ti-6Al-4V nanocrystalline alloy by mechanical alloying (MA) method with different milling times, and consolidate the powders by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The variation of structural parameters with the function of milling time was explored using several models based on x-ray diffraction (XRD) results. The XRD results revealed the formation of Ti(Al) and Ti(Al, V) coherent phases due to solid solution attainment eventually the crystalline size was decreased drastically from 90 nm (0 hr) to 4.4 nm (120 h) obtained from uniform stress deformation model (USDM). The powder surface morphology using HRSEM, physical properties ofsynthesised powders, and powder flow characteristics were investigated. The TEM and HRTEM analyses on the Ti-6Al-4V-120h sample was also examined. Mechanical behaviour and EBSD analyses of bulk samples were also explained and reported. The results of the Ti-6Al-4V-120h bulk sample after SPS exhibited high mechanical properties.

KEYWORDS:

• Mechanical alloying (MA)
• Ti-6Al-4V alloy
• XRD
• HRTEM
• SPS
• EBSD
• mechanical properties

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support by SERB TARE – TAR/2019/000121. The authors extended their gratitude towards Dr. R. Nagarajan Professor and Head of Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai, for allowing us to make use of its research laboratory, and Dr. Supriya Bera, Associate professor, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology Durgapur for giving us the technical suggestions on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Science and Engineering Research Board (IN) [grant number TAR/2019/000121].

Notes on contributors

Showkat Ali

Showkath Ali is working as a research scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, India. He completed his M.Tech in tribology degree from Indian Institute of Technolgy, Delhi, India. His research interest includes biomaterials and tribology.

R. Karunanithi

Dr. R. Karunanithi is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, India. He received his PhD in the area of powder metallurgy from National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, West Bengal. His research interest includes Material characterisation, biomaterials and corrosion engineering.

M. Prashanth

M. Prashanth is working as a full time research scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, India. He completed his ME in Engineering Design PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. At present, he is pursuing his PhD work in the area of powder metallurgy under the guidance of Dr. R. Karunanithi, Associate Professor, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology.

S. Sivasankaran

Dr. S.Sivasankaran is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. He received his Ph.D in the Area of Nanocomposite Materials from Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. He has published more than 75 research articles in peer reviewed journals, has completed and doing several research projects in the areas of Materials and Manufacturing. His current research interests are Nanocomposites; Mechanical Alloying; Powder Metallurgy; Stir-casting; Advanced welding; 3D Printing; Metal matrix composites; Mechanical behaviour; Machining behaviour; Advanced characterization techniques; Optimization and modelling.