Titanium alloys have excellent specific strength and constitute approximately 25% by weight of gas turbine engines.
Even though titanium alloys have been used extensively and successfully in the aerospace industry since the 1950s, there is a marked lack of literature and understanding regarding high strain rate deformation, deformation twinning and the microscale mechanics during their deformation. One of the focal points of our titanium research is furthering the understanding of how deformation twinning interacts with micro structural features in the alpha phase of titanium alloys. Ballistic testing has been used to investigate the high strain rate response of alpha titanium, simulating bird strike or foreign object debris ingestion situations.
Another active research topic is the phase evolution of metastable beta titanium alloys. With a myriad of phases available for microstructural refinement, these alloys exhibit exceptional strength with the correct thermal treatment. Our research investigates the phases present and the transformation mechanisms involved, with the aim of further increasing the yield stress.