Application of a rheological Model for Phase Transformation Prediction in Beta Processing of Titanium Alloys

The paper shows a description of a numerical model able to simulate a complete forming process of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy that is a multi-phasic alloy composed, at room temperature, by two main different phases, namely Alpha and Beta, which evolve during both cooling and heating processes. The characterization of the material behavior concerns both the thermo-mechanical and metallurgical data in order to set a valid tri-coupled thermo-mechanical-metallurgical analysis systems taking into account the effects and interactions of all the phenomena resulting from the coupling of thermal, mechanical and metallurgical events. The numerical model was used to simulate a double numerical campaign regarding the forging process of a complex shape and in-house Friction Stir Welding (FSW) experiments. All analyses are carried-out using the commercial implicit code DEFORM™