# Beijing team: oxygen in β phase gives Ti-6Al-4V-0.39O alloy 1200 MPa strength and 23.5% ductility

- Published: 2026-11-05 02:40 UTC
- Section: Machines & Making › Materials science
- Tags: titanium alloy oxygen, Ti-6Al-4V-0.39O, α-β titanium alloy, O' phase, transformation-induced plasticity, twinning-induced plasticity, ultimate tensile strength 1200 MPa, titanium waste recycling
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-116ea868b2535c7a7d9a7f0e_beijing_team_oxygen/

**Researchers in Beijing partitioned oxygen between α and β phases of a dual-phase titanium alloy, triggering a β → O' transformation and added plasticity.**

![Beijing team: oxygen in β phase gives Ti-6Al-4V-0.39O alloy 1200 MPa strength and 23.5% ductility](https://sgzwpqqelzmajkcubgkl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/rt-media/2026/11/4c7f79408c466e28.jpg)
*Bill Abbott, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0*

A team from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, together with colleagues from the University of Auckland, the University of Queensland and other institutes, reported a titanium alloy in which oxygen is deliberately placed in both coexisting phases. The work was published on 3 November 2026 in Nature Communications [1]. The resulting α-β-O' alloy, Ti-6Al-4V-0.39O, shows an ultimate tensile strength of 1200 ± 30 MPa and a ductility of 23.5 ± 1.5% [1]. Its strength-and-strain product is 28.2 GPa·% [1].

## Oxygen in the β phase

Oxygen is traditionally detrimental to ductility in titanium alloys. Recent studies have treated it as a design tool for forming beneficial microstructures, but its role has mostly been limited to the α phase of dual-phase α-β alloys, according to the authors [1].

The team considered introducing sufficient oxygen into the β phase while both phases coexist. They report that strategic oxygen partitioning across α and β enables a substantial oxygen content in β [1]. This triggers a β → O' phase transformation through atomic rearrangements [1].

## Deformation mechanism

According to the authors, the O' phase acts as a precursor for a stress-induced martensitic transformation, O' → α", during deformation [1]. This activates two mechanisms together: transformation-induced plasticity and twinning-induced plasticity [1]. The authors link the combination of strength and ductility in the alloy to this synergy [1].

The study included synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction measurements on the BL12SW beamline at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility [1].

The authors describe the result as a general principle for strategically tuning oxygen in titanium alloy design [1]. They also state that the work demonstrates potential for recycling oxygen-contaminated titanium waste [1].

## Sources

1. [Nature Communications](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-79303-0)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-116ea868b2535c7a7d9a7f0e_beijing_team_oxygen/