Micromechanical properties of single crystals and polycrystals of pure α-titanium: anisotropy of microhardness, size effect, effect of the temperature (77–300 K)

• Published in: Low temperature physics (Woodbury, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2018-01, Vol.44 (1), p.73-80
• Main Authors: Lubenets, S. V., Rusakova, A. V., Fomenko, L. S., Moskalenko, V. A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1063-777X; 1090-6517
• DOI: 10.1063/1.5020901

The anisotropy of microhardness of pure α-Ti single crystals, indentation size effect in single-crystal, course grained (CG) pure and nanocrystalline (NC) VT1-0 titanium, as well as the temperature dependences of the microhardness of single-crystal and CG Ti in the temperature range 77–300 K were studied. The minimum value of hardness was obtained when indenting into the basal plane (0001). The indentation size effect (ISE) was clearly observed in the indentation of soft high-purity single-crystal iodide titanium while it was the least pronounced in a sample of nanocrystalline VT1-0 titanium. It has been demonstrated that the ISE can be described within the model of geometrically necessary dislocations (GND), which follows from the theory of strain gradient plasticity. The true hardness and others parameters of the GND model were determined for all materials. The temperature dependence of the microhardness is in agreement with the idea of the governing role of Peierls relief in the dislocation thermally-activated plastic deformation of pure titanium as has been earlier established and justified in macroscopic tensile investigations at low temperatures. The activation energy and activation volume of dislocation motion in the strained region under the indenter were estimated.