Effect of crystallographic texture on the isothermal beta grain-growth kinetics of Ti–6Al–4V

The effect of crystallographic texture on the kinetics of grain growth during isothermal beta annealing of Ti–6Al–4V was established. For this purpose, samples were subjected to a thermomechanical process to produce material with a uniform, fine equiaxed-alpha microstructure with either a strong or weak (110) beta-phase texture. Grain growth measurements revealed that the classical isothermal grain-growth relation was incapable of describing the observations. Specifically, the grain-growth exponent n was found to have a strong dependence on temperature. In addition, the phenomenon of discontinuous grain growth, or a stagnation in the growth behavior at short times, was documented and ascribed to changes in texture during the grain-growth process.