Flow softening and microstructural evolution of near beta titanium alloy Ti-35421 during hot compression deformation in the alpha plus beta region

Flow softening and microstructural evolution of a novel near beta titanium alloy Tie-3Al-5Mo-4Cr-2Zr-1Fe (Ti-35421) with tensile strength beyond 1200 MPa have been investigated at temperatures of 710 similar to 800 degrees C in the alpha+beta region with strain rates of 0.001 similar to 1 s(-1) during hot deformation. The established Arrhenius constitutive model embedded softening mechanism and deformations can predict the flow stress and match the experimental data well. Two mechanisms of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) including the continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) of subgrains rotating and the discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) of grain boundaries bulging govern the hot deformation and microstructural evolution. Both CDRX and DDRX occur at high true strains and the number of DRX grains increases with increasing true strain. An obvious flow softening phenomenon presents during thermal compression at the low temperature and low strain rates in the alpha+beta region, which might be attributed to the bending and fragmentation of alpha phases, inverse change of the texture intensity between alpha and beta phases, and the formation of the new grains from DRX. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.