Mechanical alloying behavior of Ti6Al4V residual scraps with addition of Al2O3 to produce nanostructured powder

The present investigation has been based on production and subsequent comparison of different physical, mechanical and thermal properties of nanostructured Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al4V/Al2O3 powders by means of high energy ball milling. In this regard, the structural and morphological changes of powders were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and microhardness measurements. The results revealed that ball milling process reduced the grain size of Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al4V + 10 wt% Al2O3 to approximately 20 and 15 nm, respectively. For both compositions also a remarkable change in morphology and particle size occurred during ball milling of powders with different compositions. Moreover, phase evolution during milling and heat treatment was taken into consideration. The as-milled Ti6Al4V + 10 wt% Al2O3 powder exhibited higher microhardness (∼900 Hv) comparing to as-milled Ti6Al4V (∼536 Hv) and as-received samples (∼400 Hv).