Recrystallisation in a cold drawn low cost beta titanium alloy during rapid resistance heating

The microstructure and micro-texture evolution in an 80% and 90% cold drawn LCB-Ti alloy subjected to rapid annealing was analysed via electron back-scattering diffraction. The partially recrystallised microstructures were deconstructed into four fractions comprising deformed, recovered, newly nucleated and growing grains. The specific interfacial areas of the various recrystallisation fronts were used to estimate the activation energy for boundary migration. It is inferred that diffusion controlled boundary migration is operational during rapid heating as the apparent activation energies for the deformed-recrystallised interfaces are close to the activation energy for the self-diffusion of beta-Ti. Compared to the newly nucleated grains, the increase in the apparent activation energy of the growing grains suggests solute drag effects during the growth stage. The recrystallisation micro-textures of both cold drawn reductions exhibit varying extents of high and low energy discontinuous recrystallisation and continuous recrystallisation. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.