Microstructure-Property Relationships in Cold Rollable, High Strength Alpha-Beta ATI Titanium Alloys

For decades, Ti-6Al-4V has been the workhorse alloy for aerospace sheet applications due to its good balance of room temperature properties. Sheets of Ti-6Al-4V are produced by hot pack rolling, which is a costly and time-consuming process, due to the alloy having insufficient room-temperature workability to support significant cold reduction. Consequently, Ti-6Al-4V is not typically offered in foil gauges since the direct product of hot pack rolling contains an undesirable surface finish and gauge control, as well as limited sheet sizes and annual capacity. ATI is developing new titanium alloys with improved strength compared to Ti-6Al-4V that take advantage of a recent understanding of cold workability in high-strength alpha-beta titanium alloys. These alloys exceed Ti-6Al-4V strength while being highly cold rollable and formable. This presentation will focus on mechanical results from recent pilot-scale experiments with these alloys as a function of chemistry, processing route, and heat treatment.