Study of ultrasonic attenuation on aging precipitation in a Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Ti-6Al-4V alloy with different microstructures was investigated by means of ultrasonic attenuation measurements. Widmanstatten and equiaxed microstructures were obtaining by heat treating a Ti-6Al-4V alloy. These two microstructures were over-aged at 545°C at different aging times. In order to find out the factors affecting the variation in the ultrasonic attenuation, the heat treated samples were examined by optical microscopy (OM) and (SEM) scanning electron microscopy. Based on the theory of ultrasonic attenuation in a solid media, the mechanisms of ultrasonic attenuation in the Ti-6Al-4V alloy with different microstructures were analyzed. It was found that in both cases with Widmanstatten and equiaxed microstructures, the ultrasonic attenuation increased with frequency. After aging, the ultrasonic attenuation was mainly attributed to the scattering loss which included the stochastic and the Rayleigh scattering due to the interaction between the ultrasonic wave and the material microstructure.