Dynamic mechanical behavior of ultra-high specific strength lightweight Ti61Al16Cr10Nb8V5 multi-principal element alloy

This study investigated the dynamic mechanical property and microstructure evolution of the Ti61Al16Cr10Nb8V5 (Ti61) lightweight multi-principal element alloy(MPEA) with a density of 4.83 g/cm3. After melting and rolling, the Ti61 alloy was composed of a BCC matrix phase and dispersed B2 phase, and also contained a small amount of fine needle-like FCC phase and spherical HCP phase. Mechanical testing of Ti61 alloy revealed that the ultimate tensile strength is about 1223 MPa, and the tensile elongation is about 13.2 %, with a specific strength of around 253 MPa*cm3/g. Dynamic compression testing of Ti61 alloy showed a significant strain rate strengthening effect and excellent fracture strain greater than 50 %. Calculation and microstructural observations indicated that at low strain rates ranging from 10⁻³/s to 10/s, the strain rate sensitivity of Ti61 alloy was 0.0087, with the main plastic deformation mechanism of dislocation nucleation, dislocation slip, and stacking faults. At high strain rates ranging from 500/s to 5000/s, the strain rate sensitivity raises to 0.0963 and the main deformation mechanism of the Ti61 alloy involved higher-density dislocation nucleation, dislocation slip, stacking faults and twinning. At strain rates of 5000/s, HCP-FCC phase transition accompanied by FCC microtwins and BCC-α2HCP phase transition occurred. Furthermore, dynamic recrystallization also occurred in Ti61 alloy. The HCP-FCC has the orientation of (0001)_HCP//(11−1)_FCC, [1−210]_HCP//[011]_FCC. The BCC-α2HCP has the orientation of {101}_BCC//{0001}_HCP and [111]_BCC//[2−1−10]_HCP. Twining and phase transition strengthen the yield stress of Ti61 alloy, while dynamic recrystallization reduced the flow stress of Ti61 alloy. Ti61 alloy has high strength, high compression fracture strain, and ultra-high specific strength, which is a new LWMPEA with great application potential in military armor.