The effects of increasing deformation strain on the microstructural evolution of a metastable β-Zr alloy

Abstract In this study, we investigated the morphology evolution of deformation-induced α' , α ″ martensite and retained β phase with increasing deformation strain in metastable β-Zr-43.2Ti-4.5Al-4.2V (wt. %) alloy by ex-situ and regular compression tests. Three types of deformation-induced α' martensite have been observed for the first time during deformation, namely, twinned α' martensite, untwinned α' martensite and paired α' martensite. Transitions in morphology of twinned α' martensite from thin plate to twinned plate and to widened twinned plate, eventually to { 10 1 ¯ 2 } twin-related domains and of untwinned α' martensite from thin plate to widened plate to domain have been observed with increasing deformation strains. The paired α' martensite is undergone a process in which the α' martensite impacted grain boundaries stimulating the nucleation of new α' martensite in neighboring grains, and then leading to martensite growth on both sides grow simultaneously. With progressive deformation, the nano-size deformation-induced α ″ martensite changes from long thin plate to ladder-shaped plate to 90° rotation domains. The morphology evolution of untwinned α' martensite, paired α' martensite and α ″ martensite are mainly related to the self-accommodation mechanism, while the morphology evolution of twinned α' martensite is mainly related to the plastic accommodation mechanism. The average hardness increased with increase in deformation strains, owing to the martensitic transformation strengthening along with dislocation multiplication strengthening.

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