Relationships between tensile deformation behavior and microstructure in Ti–Nb–Ta–Zr system alloys

Abstract Ti–Nb–Ta–Zr system alloys are receiving more attention for biomedical material component applications. However, the deformation behavior of the Ti–Nb–Ta–Zr system has not been evaluated to date. Therefore, the deformation behavior of Ti–Nb–Ta–Zr alloys with different Nb contents was investigated in this study. The behaviors of loading–unloading stress–strain curves of Ti–20Nb–10Ta–5Zr and Ti–25Nb–10Ta–5Zr air-cooled after final heating of the manufacturing process are similar to that obtained in metastable β type titanium alloys that have the shape memory effect. Therefore, the shape memory effect was expected in Ti–20Nb–10Ta–5Zr and Ti–25Nb–10Ta–5Zr alloys. The elastic deformation of Ti–30Nb–10Ta–5Zr disobeyed Hooke's law. However, stress or strain-induced martensite (SIM) is not observed on the loading–unloading stress–strain curve. The deformation mechanism of Ti–25Nb–10Ta–5Zr changes with varying its microstructure. In Ti–25Nb–10Ta–5Zr air-cooled after final heating, the microstructure consisted of an ω phase in a β phase. The stress for inducing martensite in a β phase, σM, was nearly equal to the yielding stress, σy. Therefore, stress-induced martensitic transformation and movement of dislocations occurred together. In Ti–25Nb–10Ta–5Zr water-quenched after final heating of the manufacturing process, the microstructure consisted of a single β phase, where σM is lower than σy. Therefore, stress-induced martensitic transformation occurred before yielding.