β-Ti alloys are widely used in airframe and biomedical applications due to their high ductility, high hardenability, and low elastic modulus. The phase transformations in β-Ti alloys are rather complex due to formation of metastable phases during various thermo-mechanical treatments. One such critical metastable phase, the hexagonal omega (ω) phase, can form in β-Ti alloys under quenching from the high temperature β phase and/or isothermal aging at intermediate temperature. Despite a substantial amount of reported works on the ω phase, there are several critical issues related to the ω formation need to be resolved, e.g. role of alloying elements and oxygen content. Therefore, this dissertation has attempted to provide insights into ω transformation in low misfit (Ti-Mo) and high misfit (Ti-V) binary systems as well as multicomponent (Ti-Nb-Zr-Ta) alloys. The evolution of ω structure, morphology and composition from the early stage (β-solution+quenched) to later stages after prolonged aging are systematically investigated by coupling transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atom probe tomography (APT) and high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction techniques. The influence of aging temperature and duration on characteristic of ω phase in Ti-Mo, and Ti-V alloys is addressed in details. It is found that compositional changes during aging can alter the structure, size and morphology of ω precipitates. In low misfit alloys, the ellipsoidal morphology of ω phase was retained during isothermal aging, while in high misfit alloys it changed from ellipsoidal to cuboidal morphology after prolonged aging. Secondly, ω transformation in biomedical Ti-Nb-Zr-Ta alloy is probed in which the micro-hardness was sensitive to microstructural changes. Furthermore, the evolution of oxygen concentration in ω precipitates during various aging conditions in binary Ti-Mo and Ti-V alloys are reported. It has been accepted that interstitial elements such as oxygen can largely alter mechanical behavior and the microstructure of Ti-alloys. Recently, oxygen is intentionally added to some biomedical alloys to improve their performances. However, a careful understanding of the effect of oxygen on ω phase transformation is still lacking in the literature. In this work, the role of oxygen on ω phase formation in biomedical TNTZ alloys is investigated. Although it is traditionally accepted that oxygen suppresses ω transformation, our observations revealed contradictory results during isothermal aging of TNZT alloys. The results of our investigations provide a novel insight into understanding the effect of interstitial elements on metastable phase transformation in β-Ti alloys. It is concluded that depending upon the nature of alloying elements and/or the applied thermo-mechanical treatments, oxygen may play a different role in ω transformations.

Les alliages de titane α/β ont beaucoup d’applications dans des domaines industriels divers comme l’aéronautique. Le phénomène de globularisation qui se produit lors de traitements thermomécaniques est un phénomène important dans la mesure où une microstructure globulaire présente une tenue mécanique et une ductilité accrues.Les microstructures lamellaires sont constituées de colonies de lamelles de phase α parallèles qui se développent dans les grains β au cours de leur refroidissement. La globularisation se fait en deux étapes : les lamelles se subdivisent d’abord en segments plus courts, puis ces segments globularisent, au cours de la déformation à chaud et des traitements thermiques. La subdivision des lamelles se fait au niveau des sous-joints formés au cours de la déformation à chaud. Lors de traitements thermiques prolongés, les plus gros globules de phase α grossissent au détriment des plus petits. La formation des sous-joints et le grossissement des globules n’ont pas été étudiés en détail dans ce travail. L’accent a été mis sur les mécanismes de migration des interfaces α/β et α/α qui conduisent à la subdivision des lamelles et à leur globularisation.Des essais de compression à chaud et des traitements thermiques appliqués à des échantillons de Ti-6Al-4V ont permis de confirmer que l’épaisseur des lamelles et de leur orientation sont des facteurs importants pour la globularisation. Les lamelles plus fines et celles orientées parallèlement à l’axe de compression globularisent plus facilement. Ce travail expérimental a permis de mieux appréhender la complexité du phénomène de globularisation et d’introduire un cadre numérique adapté pour sa simulation. Une méthode à champ complet, basée sur la méthode Level-Set dans un cadre Eléments Finis, a ainsi été testée pour simuler les mécanismes physiques de migration interfaciale menant à la subdivision des lamelles et à l'évolution vers une forme globulaire. Les premiers résultats sont très prometteurs et illustrent le potentiel du cadre numérique proposé. / Α/β titanium alloys have many industrial applications in various fields such as aeronautics. Spheroidization is a phenomenon that occurs in initially lamellar α/β titanium alloys during thermomechanical processing and receives considerable attention as spheroidized microstructures exhibit enhanced strength and ductility.Lamellar microstructures are made of colonies of parallel α lamellae developed inside β grains while they are cooled down. Spheroidization actually proceeds in two successive steps: the lamellae first split into smaller α laths, which subsequently undergo spheroidization. This occurs during hot-deformation and subsequent annealing. Lamella splitting occurs where subboundaries were formed inside lamellae during hot-deformation. Over long term annealing the spheroidized α phase particles undergo coarsening. The formation of subboundaries and coarsening were not addressed in this work. The focus has been placed on the interfacial kinetics mechanisms leading α lamellae splitting during the first stages of spheroidization.Hot compression tests and subsequent annealings carried out on Ti-6Al-4V samples confirmed that the thickness and the orientation of the lamellae are important factors with regards to spheroidization. Thinner lamellae and lamellae oriented parallel to the compression axis spheroidize faster. Those experiments contributed to a better understanding of the phenomenon and allowed to introduce a suitable numerical framework to simulate the early stages of spheroidization. A full field method in a Finite Element/ Level Set framework has thus been tested for simulating the involved physical mechanisms of interface migration that lead to lamellae splitting and the subsequent shape evolution of the α laths towards a spheroidal shape. First results are promising and illustrate the potential of this numerical framework