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OPEN Ductile and brittle transition

behavior of titanium alloys in
ultra-precision machining
Received: 23 August 2017 W. S. Yip & S. To
Accepted: 21 February 2018
Published: xx xx xxxx Titanium alloys are extensively applied in biomedical industries due to their excellent material
properties. However, they are recognized as difficult to cut materials due to their low thermal
conductivity, which induces a complexity to their deformation mechanisms and restricts precise
productions. This paper presents a new observation about the removal regime of titanium alloys. The
experimental results, including the chip formation, thrust force signal and surface profile, showed
that there was a critical cutting distance to achieve better surface integrity of machined surface. The
machined areas with better surface roughness were located before the clear transition point, defining
as the ductile to brittle transition. The machined area at the brittle region displayed the fracture
deformation which showed cracks on the surface edge. The relationship between depth of cut and
the ductile to brittle transaction behavior of titanium alloys in ultra-precision machining(UPM) was
also revealed in this study, it showed that the ductile to brittle transaction behavior of titanium alloys
occurred mainly at relatively small depth of cut. The study firstly defines the ductile to brittle transition
behavior of titanium alloys in UPM, contributing the information of ductile machining as an optimal
machining condition for precise productions of titanium alloys.

Titanium alloys are applied widely in aerospace and medical industries because of their superior material proper-
ties such as high strength and fracture resistance1–4. They become one of the most popular medical alloys and they
are used in different complex forms such as cylinder, bar, plate, sheet and stripe5 in the real applications. They are
required to machine precisely for obtaining the desired shape and an excellent surface quality in order to fulfill the
medical uses. Titanium alloys hold a high yield strength and their flow stresses increase suddenly when the strain
rate is over 103 s−1 in machining processes6,7, adding the challenges in the machining process. The deformation
mechanism of titanium alloys in machining is extremely complicated and deviates from the other traditional
alloys such as aluminum alloys and magnesium alloys8.
The low thermal conductivity of titanium alloy leads to an ineffective heat transference from the cutting zone
to the surrounding9–12, causing an ineffective dissipation of cutting heat from the tool/workpiece interface. On
the other hand, the ability of sustaining strength at elevated temperature of titanium alloys, the resulting work-
ing hardening on the machined surface is serious8 which further induces the high cutting force and the inten-
sive cutting force variation3. High cutting temperature in machining processes is another problematic issue and
places negative influences on machining performances13,14. Also, the phase change caused by the high cutting heat
in machining leads the alternation of the deformation regime in machining processes, adding the difficulty on
machining of titanium alloys especially in ultra-precision machining (UPM). In general, the machining mecha-
nism of a material in a cutting process is mainly evaluated by the machining indicators of chip formation and tool
wear15–17. Because of the low thermal conductivity and the extremely high strain rate induced in the machining
processes of titanium alloys, the chip formation happens rapidly in the material removal process18. On the other
hand, the high material shearing stress and plastic deformation with extremely high cutting temperature affect
the chip formation18. Consequently, the chip formation in machining of titanium alloys is influenced by many
machining factors and therefore it is difficult to conduct an analysis of cutting mechanism of titanium alloys. On
the other hand, tool wear in machining of titanium alloys is serious and tool life is reported to be short19,20. The
tool damage leads to the dramatic change in experimental conditions and the interrupt cutting motion in the
cutting processes. Because of the frequent tool damage, the machining mechanism of titanium alloys is difficult to

State Key Laboratory in Ultra-precision Machining Technology, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China. Correspondence and requests
for materials should be addressed to W.S.Y. (email: [email protected])

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Figure 1.  Experimental Setup of diamond cutting for generating a machined groove. The upward movement of
diamond tool provided the cutting motion on the machined surface.

observe as the change in the tool condition causes the alteration of cutting mechanism. Moreover, the machined
materials around the tool/workpiece interface are suffered from physical and metallurgical changes because
of high cutting temperature18. In response to the above uncertainty in observing the machining indicators in
machining of titanium alloys, the cutting mechanism of titanium alloys is always difficult to determine.
Cutting a groove with tilted angle was a common methodology for determining the deformation regime of
brittle materials in previous literature21–24, however, it is not feasible for the case of identifying the deformation
characteristic of titanium alloys which are hard and exhibit low thermal conductivity. For the low thermal con-
ductivity materials, the thermal gradient and thermal softening effects at the tool/workpiece interface in machin-
ing processes are always dominant and accumulative; when titanium alloys are cut with an increasing depth of
cut, the dynamic increase of depth of cut provides the extra fresh materials and surface areas in the machined
surface, they develop an averaging effect on the cutting zone as the fresh surfaces serve as new cooling media. In
this study, we cut an individual groove with different depth of cut instead of an increasing depth of cut at a single
groove. In response to the material property of low thermal conductivity of titanium alloys, a sharp transition
point is expected to appear on the machined surface under cutting at the same level of depth of cut.
The ductile to brittle behavior of brittle materials has been extensively investigated previously25,26, and the
ductile machining strategy is widely adopted to improve surface finishing of the brittles materials. However, up to
now, limited researches have reported the machining characteristics of titanium alloys, the fracture mechanism of
these alloys in the material removal process in UPM is ever fewer reported. This paper aims to reveal the ductile
to brittle transition regime of titanium alloys in UPM and shows the effects of depth of cut on the critical cutting
distance and the ductile to brittle transition behavior of titanium alloys. We reported that there was a ductile
deformation region on the machined surface of titanium alloys which showed a lower level of elastic recovery and
better surface integrity, and it was highly depended on depth of cut. The cutting area outside the ductile defor-
mation region suffered from a higher level of material swelling and the brittle fracture deformation, resulting of
poorer surface integrity and the generation of uncut materials, which was defined as a brittle deformation region.
The experimental results of cutting force, cutting profile, surface roughness, chip formation and machined surface
in the different areas of machined surface were investigated and they gave out the evidences of above phenom-
enon. The clear crack was appeared at the ductile and brittle transition point which located in between of the
machined surface of lower and higher elastic recovery. The cutting distance that started to appear the brittle frac-
ture was denoted as the critical cutting distance. The present study firstly defines the ductile to brittle deformation
mechanism and the critical cutting distance of titanium alloys in UPM, providing the information of optimal
machining condition in precision machining of titanium alloys.

Method
Titanium alloys Ti6Al4V (TC4) which contain 0.25% of iron, 0.2% of oxygen, 6% aluminum, 4% of beta phase
stabilizer, 6% alpha phase stabilizer and remaining parts of titanium were used for the experiments. The length
and diameter of titanium alloys were 40 mm and 16 mm respectively. Titanium alloys underwent straight line cut-
tings by the single point diamond tool. Depth of cut in the experiments was adjusted from 2 μm–7 μm with 1 μm
interval value; therefore, six straight lines were cut individually on the titanium alloys’ surface with different depth
of cut. Feedrate (cutting velocity) was set as 150 mm/min and unchanged throughout the experiments. The radius
and height of diamond tool were 1.494 mm and 10.186 mm respectively. The chips were observed under scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) machine Hitachi HT3030. The cutting force in three directions was captured by a
force sensor Kistler 9256 C. Moore Nanotech 350FG (4 axis Ultra-precision machine) was used for diamond
cutting. Surface roughness and the cutting profile of machined surface were measured by Wyko NT8000 Optical
Profiling System, which is the optical profiler using non-contact measurement. The experimental setup is shown
in Fig. 1. The fixture with the workpiece was hold on to the ultra-precision machine by the vacuum suction. The
diamond tool moved in the upward direction and provided the straight line cutting on the workpiece, forming
the groove on the machined surface.

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Figure 2. (a–f). The chip formations with the indication of brittle and ductile deformation areas at depth of cut
2 μm–7 μm. The letters B and D are the brittle deformation area and the ductile deformation area respectively.

Results and Discussion

Chip formation.  The chip morphology and segmentation occupy the crucial roles in observing the machin-
ability and the machining mechanism of titanium alloys. The chip formations generated at different depth of cut
are shown in Fig. 2 (a–f). Cook27 explained the relationship between the chip morphology and cutting tempera-
ture in the cutting process of titanium alloys; when the thermal softening effect in the primary deformation zone
was dominant over the strain hardening effect, the chip would appear as a serrated shape. According to Fig. 2(a),
for the chip formation generated at depth of cut 2 μm, the length of saw tooth was the largest in comparison to
that of generated at other depth of cut, this explained the thermal softening effect was stronger at relatively small

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depth of cut. The intensive thermal softening effect at the tool/workpiece interface further promoted the ductile
deformation at the cutting zone, therefore, the length of saw-tooth decreased with depth of cut increase, and the
degree of ductile deformation decreased with the cutting thickness increased.
The chip edge showed the saw-tooth shape at the cutting conditions of depth of cut 2 μm–4 μm, the saw-tooth
edge gradually disappeared when depth of cut increased to 5 μm or above. Moreover, according to Fig. 2 (a–c), the
void nucleation was observed near the chip edge at depth of cut 2 μm–4 μm; the void nucleation inside the chip
suggests the ductile fracture in the cutting process28–30, which provided the evidence of the existence of ductile
deformation at those depth of cut. For the chip formations generated at higher depth of cut 5 μm–7 μm as shown
in Fig. 2 (d–f), the shapes of those chips were entire without any void, which implied that the brittle deformation
was dominant over the whole cutting process without involving ductile mode cutting. The above experimental
results explained that the cutting thickness governed the ductile and brittle deformation of UPM of titanium
alloys.
On the other hand, the periodic saw-tooth was observed in the chip edge at depth of cut 2 μm–4 μm, which the
length of saw-tooth in the chip edge was inhomogeneous in one single chip. The parts of chip edge displayed the
longer saw-tooth while other parts displayed the shorter saw-tooth. This finding is matched with the report from
Sun. S et al.31, which they observed that the periodic chip edge appeared in the cross section of chips in turning
of titanium alloys. The periodic chip structures were disappeared when depth of cut increased to 5 μm–7 μm. The
generations of inhomogeneous chip edge at depth of cut 2 μm–4 μm indicated that the brittle and ductile defor-
mation occurred simultaneously at one single cut at relatively small depth of cut, similarly, the generations of
homogeneous chip edge at depth of cut 5 μm–7 μm implied that the brittle deformation was the only deformation
mechanism at relatively large depth of cut. The corresponding areas of brittle and ductile deformations on the
chip edge are denoted as letters “B” and “D” respectively in Fig. 2 (a–f).

Cutting profile and surface quality.  The cutting profiles of machined groove at depth of cut 2 μm–7 μm
are shown in Fig. 3. According to Fig. 3, the cutting profiles of every individual machined groove (2 μm–7 μm)
showed various depth along a constant depth of cut, which was caused by the material swelling effect. Actually,
the material swelling effect commonly occurs in UPM. The materials that are melted become viscous fluid under
continuous cutting and the material fluid localizes at the two sides and the bottom of the tool edge. The metal
fluid solidifies and expands when temperature of the machined surface decreases32,33, as a result, the machined
surface swells and apparent tool marks are left on the machined surface, introducing the deviation of actual
cutting depth from the assigned one. The microscopes of three areas of each machined groove were captured,
they are denoted as X, Y and Z as the figures shown. The letters of X, Y and Z with the subscript of depth of cut
denoted as the machined areas with “a lower level of material swelling”, “a transition point of lower material swell-
ing to higher material swelling” and “a higher level material swelling” respectively. The depth variation among
the individual machined groove was different from that of each other, and it is highly depended on depth of cut.
According to Fig. 3, for depth of cut 2 μm–4 μm, the depth of machined groove varied along the machined sur-
face, the depth of machined groove firstly decreased and then reached to the lowest value, the depth increased
again in the following cutting distance, demonstrating the different degrees of material swelling at one single cut.
For the machined groove generated at depth of cut 5 μm–7 μm, the cutting profiles of them appeared distinctively,
the decreasing/increasing rate of depth in the cutting profile was smaller. The above results suggested that the
material swelling rate changed when depth of cut was various, and therefore, the cutting mechanism altered when
depth of cut changed.
Areas X of all machined grooves displayed differently from areas Y and Z; areas X had the smoother and finer
surfaces in comparison to that of the areas Y and X generated in all depth of cut, there was no tear on the surface
and surface edge at areas X. For areas Y, there was a clear crack on the groove edge (shown as red circles in Fig. 3),
it became the important indicator for the transition point from the lower material swelling area to the higher
material swelling area and the start of ductile to brittle transition, the crack was defined as the transition point
of ductile to brittle area. The machined surfaces of areas Z displayed coarseness, the left of groove edge at areas
Z contained cracks (shown as blue circle in Fig. 3) and they were the footprints of uncut materials which were
generated by the brittle deformation under the brittle fracture mode.
Surface roughness of areas X, Y and Z at depth of cut 2 μm–7 μm is shown in Fig. 4. The results are consistent
with the cutting profiles shown in Fig. 3, because of the brittle deformation and fracture tearing of chip at areas
Z, it could been seen that surface finishing obtained in areas X was superior than that of areas Z, which surface
roughness of areas X was always smaller than that of areas Z. Especially for the surface generated at depth of cut
3 μm and 4 μm, the difference of surface roughness between these two areas was remarkably large, this large var-
iation was again counted by the different deformation modes at the area X (ductile) and the area Z (brittle). For
areas Y at all depth of cut, surface roughness was the highest among other areas; the underlying reason was the
formation of the crack at the ductile to brittle transition point, consequently, the ragged surface caused the worst
surface quality.
The cutting distance between areas X and Y is expressed as d, it explained the minimum/critical cutting dis-
tance of the brittle fracture deformation and the start of coarsened surface appearance. The graph of d versus
depth of cut is shown in Fig. 5. The minimum/critical cutting distance increased with depth of cut increase.
Figure 6 shows the deep material swelling percentage of areas X and Z after the diamond cutting, which was
determined by the difference between the assigned and actual cutting depth at the bottom of machined surface.
Deep material swelling is caused by the expanded materials after the solidification of melted metal fluid in cutting.
According to Fig. 6 the material swelling effect was serious for titanium alloys in UPM, the material swelling per-
centage was over at least 40% for both areas X and Z no matter the value of depth of cut, it is one of the important
machining characteristics of titanium alloys, which is low elastic modulus materials.

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Figure 3.  The groove profiles and groove surfaces generated at depth of cut 2 μm–7 μm. The letters X, Y and Z
are denoted as the area with “a lower level of material swelling”, “a transition point of lower material swelling to
higher material swelling” and “a higher level material swelling”.

Figure 4.  Surface roughness of areas X, Y and Z generated at depth of cut 2 μm–7 μm.

Cutting Force analysis.  Figure 7 shows the thrust force of machined groove generated at depth of cut
2 μm–7 μm. The thrust force was used to identify the level of deep material swelling at the bottom area of the
machined surface9–11. The higher value of thrust force means the higher level of deep material swelling on the
machined surface and vice via. According to Fig. 7, the thrust force was varied through a single cut, it implied that

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Figure 5.  The graph of d versus different depth of cut. d is the minimum/critical cutting distance of starting the
brittle fracture deformation.

Figure 6.  The material recovery percentage of areas X and Z.

Figure 7.  The thrust forces of machined grooves generated at depth of cut 2 μm–7 μm.

the material swelling level was varied alone one machine groove and it was consistence to the different values of
cutting depth on the individual machined groove as shown in Fig. 3. The variation of thrust force decreased with
depth of cut increase. The thrust forces fluctuated largely at depth of cut 2 μm–4 μm, and it became flatter and
more stable at depth of cut 5 μm–7 μm. In general, the implications of thrust force patterns in Fig. 7 were matched
to the cutting profiles shown in Fig. 3.
As illustrating in Fig. 7, the patterns of increasing/decreasing trend of thrust force at depth of cut 2 μm–4 μm
were different from that of depth of cut 5 μm–7 μm. For the thrust forces generated at depth of cut 2 μm–4 μm,
the thrust forces firstly decreased and following with an increasing trend, the sharp lowest points were observed
at the transition points. On the contrary, for the thrust forces at depth of cut 5 μm–7 μm, the thrust force pat-
terns displayed dissimilarly, they showed relatively flat comparing to that of smaller depth of cut 2 μm–4 μm,
which showed a comparable lower increasing/decreasing rate, and the highest sharp transition points were

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demonstrated in the thrust force signals. Actually, the increase and decrease of thrust forces at constant depth of
cut implied that there were two cutting mechanisms at one single cut. The demonstration of relatively flat patterns
in the thrust forces at depth of cut 5 μm–7 μm explained only one cutting mechanism throughout the whole cut-
ting processes; with the information of chip formation and cutting profile discussed above, it can be concluded
that the whole cutting processes conducted at depth of cut 5 μm–7 μm are described as brittle machining without
a ductile material removal process.

Conclusion
In this study, the cutting mechanism of titanium alloys in UPM was firstly revealed through experimental
approaches. The experimental results displayed the existence of brittle and ductile deformation mechanism and
the ductile to brittle transition behavior. The critical machining parameters for conducting ductile machining
of titanium alloys are both the cutting distance and depth of cut. Ductile machining of titanium alloys in UPM
occurs when the cutting distance is not over the critical cutting distance. The critical cutting distance increases
with depth of cut increase. The ductile to brittle transition behavior mainly happens at smaller depth of cut
(in this study, the depth of cut was 2 μm–4 μm), cutting at higher depth of cut would result of the single brittle
removal mode. This study provides the important information of implementing ductile machining of titanium
alloys in UPM, supporting to improve surface finishing and surface integrity of precise medical components.

Data availability statement.  The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are
available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements
The works described in this paper are supported by the Research Committee of The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University (Project Code: RTTL) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51675455).

Author Contributions
W.S. Yip and S. To. conceived and conducted the experiments, analyzed the results. All authors reviewed the
manuscript.

Additional Information
Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
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