Bimorphic microstructure in Ti-6Al-4V alloy manipulated by spark plasma sintering and in-situ press forging

Abstract We report on a methodology of powder sintering and in-situ press forging, which can be used to manipulate a new bimorphic microstructure in Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The microstructure contains typical triangle colonies with ultrafine lamellar α and β, and their border areas with ultrafine equiaxed α, dispersed nano/ultrafine β, as well as α/β interface L layers. Surprisingly, the bimorphic alloy exhibits excellent mechanical properties under both tensile and compressive conditions, far superior to other Ti-6Al-4V alloys and their composites reported so far. Therefore, this innovative methodology provides a simple and economical method for preparing high-performance metallic alloys in structural applications.