Effect of equal channel angular pressing on grain refinement and texture evolution in a biomedical alloy Ti13Nb13Zr

Evolution of texture and concomitant grain refinement during Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) of Ti13Nb13Zr alloy has been presented. Sub-micron sized equiaxed grains with narrow grain size distribution could be achieved after eight pass at 873 K. A characteristic ECAP texture evolved in α phase till four passes while the evolution of characteristic ECAP texture in the β phase could be observed only beyond the fourth pass. On increasing the deformation up to eight passes, the texture in α phase weakens while the β phase shows an ideal ECAP texture. A weaker texture, low dislocation density and high crystallite size values in α phase suggest the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization. The absence of texture evolution in β phase till four passes can be attributed to local lattice rotations. The characteristic ECAP texture in the eight pass deformed sample is attributed to delayed dynamic recrystallization in the β phase.