Effects of hot isostatic pressing temperature on casting shrinkage densification and microstructure of Ti6Al4V alloy

The Ti6Al4V alloy castings were produced by the investment casting process, and the hot isostatic pressing (HIP) was used to remove shrinkage from castings. The processing pressure and holding time for HIP were 150 MPa and 20 min, respectively. Four different HIP temperatures were tested, including 750 ºC, 850 ºC, 920 ºC and 950 ºC. To evaluate the effects of temperature on densification and microstructure of Ti6Al4V alloy treated by HIP, non-destructive testing and metallographic observation was performed. The experimental results show that the shrinkage was completely closed at 920 ºC and 950 ºC. The densification of Ti6Al4V alloy increased as the HIP temperature increased below 920 ºC. The lamellae were more uniform, the thickness of lamellae was obviously broadened and the structure was coarsen. Besides, the Norton creep equation was used to simulate the effect of different temperatures on the densification of Ti6Al4V alloy during HIP. The simulation results were in good agreement with the experimental results. It was also found that 920 ºC is a suitable temperature for HIP for Ti6Al4V alloy.