Investigation of the microstructure and the thermal processes in a Ti6Al4V alloy surface-modified by scanning electron beam

Abstract We present a study of the microstructure, the microhardness and the thermal processes taking place in a Ti6Al4V alloy (Ti64) surface-modified by means of a scanning electron beam. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical metallography were used to characterize the structure and morphology of the samples. A heat model based on solving the heat-transfer equation by Green functions was applied to calculate the temperature fields and depth of the structural changes in the titanium alloy. In particular, the effect was assessed of the scanning beam current during the process of surface modification on the structure and morphology of the layers.