Abstract:The effect of grain size of primary α phase on the bonding interface characteristic and shear strength of bond was investigated in the press bonding of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The quantitative results show that the average size of voids increases from 0.8 to 2.6 μm and the bonding ratio decreases from 90.9% to 77.8% with an increase in grain size of primary α phase from 8.2 to 16.4 μm. The shape of voids changes from the tiny round to the irregular strip. The highest shear strength of bond can be obtained in the Ti-6Al-4V alloy with a grain size of 8.2 μm. This is contributed to the higher ability of plastic flow and more short-paths for diffusion in the alloy with smaller grain size of primary α phase, which promote the void closure process and the formation of α/β grains across bonding interface.

Key words: grain size; bonding interface; void closure; shear strength; press bonding; Ti-6Al-4V alloy