Application of a new method for accurate determination of α and β texture in Ti-6Al-4V from synchrotron diffraction intensities

The crystallographic texture development during processing of dual-phase Ti alloys like Ti-6Al-4V is of fundamental technological importance. However, measuring texture in both phases in these materials is a significant challenge because of the spatial inhomogeneity of the texture and low volume fraction of the minority β-phase at room temperature. Here we demonstrate how synchrotron X-ray diffraction can be used to overcome these difficulties and measure texture and texture variation in hot-rolled samples in a reproducible manner. The texture in hot-rolled Ti-64 was calculated from 2D synchrotron diffraction patterns obtained along different directions. The data was analysed using MAUD, which is based on Rietveld refinement of the diffracted intensities, and using a Fourier series based analysis method, that extracts intensities directly from the 2D diffraction patterns, and then uses the open-source software MTEX to fit an orientation distribution function (ODF). By comparing the results with faithful EBSD measurements, we show that the Fourier series method produces much more accurate texture measurements, especially for the minority β-phase. We also show that a minimum of 2, and preferably 3, different measurement orientations are needed to fully represent the texture. This implies that measurements of texture which rely on diffraction data from a single sample orientation, like in fast in-situ studies or spatially resolved measurements, can only provide qualitative information and must be interpreted with care.