Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy produced by vacuum hot-pressing

In this work, the properties of the titanium industry workhorse, the Ti-6Al-4V alloy, processed by vacuum hot-pressing are studied. More in detail, relative density, microstructure characterisation and chemical analysis, precisely oxygen, nitrogen and carbon content, as well as flexural properties and hardness are considered. Components with relative density as high as 98% and mechanical properties similar to the wrought alloy, where these properties are affected by the formation of a reacted layer due to the interaction between titanium and the boron nitride (BN) coating, are obtained.The authors are thankful for the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Education through the R&D Projects MAT2009- 14448-C02-02 and MAT2009-14547-C02-02 as well as from the Comunidad de Madrid through the ESTRUMAT (S-2009/MAT-1585) project.Publicad