Thermal Stability and Structural Relaxation Kinetics of Commercially Pure Titanium

Abstract

This work explores the structural relaxation of cryorolled commercially pure titanium subjected to subsequent annealing.Nanostructured specimens with an average grain size of ~50 nm were produced by plastic deformation via cryogenic rolling at 100 K to a true strain of 1.20, followed by annealing at 425 K, 525 K, 725 K, and 945 K. Microstructural evolution was examined using electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Cryogenic rolling was found to induce pronounced grain fragmentation, with coherent scattering regions (CSRs) of 30-50 nm dominating the substructure. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that annealing drives crystallite growth: a slight increase at 525 K, accelerated coarsening at 725 K, and complete recrystallization at 945 K. The kinetics of grain growth follow the classical Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner model, with a growth exponent of ~4, reflecting the role of triple junctions and defect-controlled boundary diffusion. The activation energy, estimated at ~97 kJ/mol, corresponds to typical values for grain boundary diffusion in α-Ti, confirming that cryogenic deformation produces a highly non-equilibrium microstructure whose relaxation is strongly temperature dependent.

arXiv comment21 pages, 7 figures, 1 table