High-strength metastable β titanium alloys are promising structural materials to be used in aviation industries. In order to achieve a high strength level, solid solution treatment within β region and subsequent low-temperature aging are usually necessary to obtain fine α precipitates. The selection of the aging temperature is considered critical to the mechanical performance of metastable β titanium alloys. In this work, we investigated the effect of aging temperature on the microscopic structure and mechanical properties of a novel type of titanium alloy TB18 (Ti-4.5Al-5Mo-5V-6Cr-1Nb). A series of aging treatments were conducted on TB18 specimens at 510 °C, 520 °C, 530 °C, and 540 °C after the solid solution treatment at 870 °C. On the basis of the systematic results of scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope, the behavior of the α phases affected by the varied aging temperatures were studied. As the aging temperature rose, the grain width of the α phase increased from 60 nm (510 °C) to 140 nm (540 °C). For the TB18 samples aged at 510 °C and 540 °C, the tensile strength/yield strength/impact toughness values were 1365 ± 3 MPa/1260 ± 0.9 MPa/26.5 ± 1.2 J/cm² and 1240 ± 0.9 MPa/1138 ± 0.8 MPa/36.2 ± 1.3 J/cm², respectively. As a result, the tensile performance and the grain width of the α phase agreed well with the Hall–Petch relationship. This work offers valuable support for both theoretical analyses and the heat treatment strategies on the novel TB18 titanium alloy.

In the present work, the hot deformation behavior of TB18 titanium alloy was investigated by isothermal hot compression tests with temperatures from 650 to 880°C and strain rates from 0.001 to 10 s⁻¹. The flow curves after friction and temperature correction show that the peak stress decreased with the temperature increase and the strain rate decrease. Three typical characteristics of flow behavior indicate the dynamic softening behavior during hot deformation. At a strain rate of 0.001∼0.01 s⁻¹, the flow stress continues to decrease as the strain rate increases after the flow stress reaches the peak stress; the flow softening mechanism is dynamic recovery and dynamic recrystallization at a lower temperature and dynamic recrystallization at a higher temperature. The discontinuous yielding phenomenon could be seen at a strain rate of 1 s⁻¹, dynamic recrystallization took place in the β single‐phase zone, and flow localization bands were observed in the α + β two‐phase zone. At a higher strain rate of 10 s⁻¹, the flow instabilities were referred to as the occurrence of flow localization by adiabatic heat. Constitutive equation considering the compensation of strain was also established, and the results show high accuracy to predict the flow stress with the correlation coefficient of 99.2% and the AARE of 6.1%, respectively.