ω-Assisted nucleation and growth of α precipitates in the Ti–5Al–5Mo–5V–3Cr–0.5Fe β titanium alloy

Abstract This paper discusses the structural and compositional changes at the nanometer scale associated with the nucleation and growth of α precipitates in the β titanium alloy Ti-5553 (Ti–5Al–5Mo–5 V–3Cr–0.5Fe) with ω precipitates acting as heterogeneous nucleation sites. The microstructural evolution in this alloy, during β-solutionizing, quenching and aging type heat-treatments, has been investigated by combining results from scanning electron microscopy, orientation imaging microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution TEM and three-dimensional atom probe (3DAP) tomography. Athermal ω precipitates form in this alloy on quenching from above the β transus temperature. On isothermal annealing at low temperatures, these ω precipitates coarsen to form chemically ordered ω precipitates, accompanied by the nucleation of the stable α phase. Annealing at higher temperatures leads to dissolution of ω and further growth of α precipitates accompanied by clustering of different α variants in self-accommodating morphologies. 3DAP results indicate that annealing at lower temperatures (∼350 °C) leads to initial nucleation of α precipitates with a non-equilibrium composition, nearly identical to that of the β matrix. Subsequent aging at higher temperatures (∼600 °C) leads to more pronounced partitioning of alloying elements between the two phases. These results indicate that the structural body-centered cubic to hexagonal close-packed transformation and the compositional partitioning of alloying elements occur in sequential steps, resulting in a mixed-mode displacive-diffusional transformation, similar to the bainite transformation in steels.