Grain boundary and texture evolution of TiB/Ti-2Al-6Sn titanium matrix composite under electroshocking treatment

This work used electroshocking treatment (EST) plus external loading to regulate the microstructure of titanium matrix composites (TMCs). The external loading was 0.3 MPa. After EST plus external loading with 0.3 MPa, the alpha was reduced to 2.53 mu m in size. The percentage of high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) in alpha increased first and then decreased. The percent of HAGBs in TiB decreased, mainly due to the introduction of abundant dislocations in the TiB/matrix interface after EST. After EST, the maximum texture strength of TiB decreased from 13.09 to 12.97, and that of alpha decreased from 3.11 to 1.58. After EST under external loading with 0.3 MPa, the maximum texture strength of TiB decreased to 8.10. The orientation of TiB experienced significant variation. TEM results showed that TiB and alpha formed a distorted interface after EST under external loading with 0.3 MPa. The inter-planar spacing of TiB and alpha was varied. All results show that the texture of TMCs can be relieved by EST plus external loading with 0.3 MPa. It is mainly attributed to the thermal and athermal effects and the imposed external loads with EST. EST plus external loading provides a new method for manipulating the microstructure of TMCs.