Interphase boundary structures associated with diffusional phase transformations in Ti-base alloys

Interphase boundary structures generated during diffusional transformations in Ti-base alloys, especially the proeutectoid α and eutectoid reactions in a β-phase matrix, are reviewed. Partially coherent boundaries are shown to be present whether the orientation relationship between precipitate and matrix phases is rational or irrational. Usually, these structures include both misfit dislocations and growth ledges. However, grain boundary α allotriomorphs (GBA's) do not appear to develop misfit dislocations at partially coherent boundaries. Evidently, these dislocations can be replaced by ledges which provide a strain vector in the plane of the interphase boundary. The bainite reaction in Ti-X alloys produces a mixture of eutectoid α and eutectoid intermetallic compound. Both eutectoid phases are partially coherent with the β matrix, and both grow by means of the ledge mechanism, though unlike pearlite the ledge systems of the two phases are structurally independent. Even after deformation and recrystallization, the boundaries between the eutectoid phases and the β matrix, as well as between these phases, are partially coherent. Titanium and zirconium hydrides have partially coherent interphase boundaries with respect to their β matrix. The recent observation of ledgewise growth of γ TiH with in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) suggests that, repeated suggestions to the contrary, these hydrides do not grow by means of shear transport of Ti atoms at rates paced by hydrogen diffusion.