Fractographic and microstructural analysis of fatigue crack growth in a Ti-6Al-4V fan disc forging

The constant amplitude fatigue crack growth behaviour of a conventionally (+β) solution treated and aged Ti-6Al-4V fan disc forging was examined by fractographic and microstructural analysis. The crack growth process was complex with many interrelated fracture features. A transition in the fatigue crack growth curve correlated with a change from structure-sensitive to continuum-mode crack growth, primarily in the transformed and aged β grains, and a decrease in fracture surface roughness. The transition was probably caused by the cyclic plastic zone size becoming equal to and exceeding the average platelet packet size. The significance of such transitions for prediction of fatigue crack growth and service failure analysis is discussed.     

The effect of angle on dovetail fretting experiments in Ti-6Al-4V

The objective of this work was to compare the fretting fatigue performance of Ti‐6Al‐4V dovetail specimens on Ti‐6Al‐4V pads having various contact angles typical of engine hardware; 35°, 45° and 55° dovetail angles were considered. The dovetail fixtures were instrumented with strain gages so that the local normal and shear contact forces could be calculated. The contact force hysteresis loops were recorded showing the stick‐slip history. At R= 0.1, gross slip was observed for several thousand cycles followed by partial slip after the average coefficient of friction increased. At R= 0.5, gross slip was present only during the first half cycle. During partial slip, the slope of the shear versus normal force was a function of the dovetail angle. The local contact loads, therefore, differed for the same remotely applied force. Despite this, the fretting fatigue life depended primarily on the remotely applied load not dovetail angle.     

Influence of sharp microstructural gradients on the fatigue crack growth resistance of α+β and near-α titanium alloys

The present study focuses on the effect of microstructural gradients on the fatigue crack growth resistance of Ti‐6Al‐4V and Ti‐6242 titanium alloys. Sharp microstructural gradients from fine‐grained bimodal to coarse‐grained lamellar microstructures were obtained by heat treating only a portion of fine‐grained plates in the β single‐phase field using a high‐frequency induction coil. For fatigue crack growth from a bimodal into a lamellar microstructure, it was found that the initial crack extension past the microstructural transition within the lamellar microstructure shows the same crack growth resistance as the reference bimodal microstructure. Similarly, for fatigue crack growth from a lamellar into a bimodal microstructure, the initial crack extension past the microstructural transition within the bimodal microstructure shows same crack growth resistance as the reference lamellar microstructure. Based on detailed crack front profile investigations using optical light and scanning electron microscopy as well as heat tinting procedures, these findings can be mainly attributed to the effect of the crack front geometry.     

Predicting the onset of high cycle fatigue damage: an engineering application for long crack fatigue threshold data

Fatigue crack propagation rates have been measured for two titanium-based aeroengine disc alloys using compact tension test-pieces. The loading block employed simulates two features of the engine flight pattern. A major stress cycle represents the start-stop operation which leads to low cycle fatigue. In-flight vibrations, which may give rise to high cycle fatigue, are represented by superimposed minor cycles of high frequency. The threshold values associated with the minor cycles have been used to predict the onset of minor cycle activity. These predictions are successful for Ti-6A1-4V, whilst for Ti-5331S they are found to be either accurate or safe. T-5331S exhibits the greater fatigue lives by virtue of a marginally greater resistance to the onset of minor cycle crack growth combined with slower major cycle crack growth rates prior to this event.     

Ti3Al基合金与Ti-6Al-4V合金TLP连接接头的组织转变

采用TiZrNiCu合金作为中间层材料研究了Ti3Al基合金与Ti-6Al-4V合金的瞬间液相(TLP)扩散连接接头成分、组织转变及显微硬度.研究结果表明,连接温度和连接时间对接头成分和组织有较大的影响.随着连接温度的提高和连接时间的延长,接头中元素分布趋于均匀,连接区宽度增大.连接温度为850℃和900℃时,液相的残留使得接头中存在Ti-Cu金属间化合物.当连接温度为950℃,连接时间为30min时,等温凝固的完成使Ti-Cu金属间化合物从接头中消失.随着连接温度的提高和连接时间的延长,接头连接区硬度降低.当连接温度为950℃,连接时间为30min时,接头硬度分布较均匀.     

Effect of mean stress on fretting fatigue of Ti-6Al-4V on Ti-6Al-4V

Fretting fatigue tests of Ti‐6Al‐4V on Ti‐6Al‐4V have been conducted to determine the influence of stress amplitude and mean stress on life. The stress ratio was varied from R=−1 to 0.8. Both flat and cylindrical contacts were studied using a bridge‐type fretting fatigue test apparatus operating either in the partial slip or mixed fretting regimes. The fretting fatigue lives were correlated to a Walker equivalent stress relation. The influence of mean stress on fretting fatigue crack initiation, characterized by the value of the Walker exponent, is smaller compared with plain fatigue. The fretting fatigue knockdown factor based on the Walker equivalent stress is 4. Formation of fretting cracks is primarily associated with the tangential force amplitude at the contact interface. A simple fretting fatigue crack initiation metric that is based on the strength of the singular stress field at the edge of contact is evaluated. The metric has the advantage in that it is neither dependent on the coefficient of friction nor the location of the stick/slip boundary, both of which are often difficult to define with certainty a priori.     

Failure analysis of a Ti-6Al-4V rotating main rotor component from an army helicopter

This paper discusses the failure analysis of a Ti-6Al-4V rotating main rotor component and contrasts the perspectives of the design/mechanical engineer and the manufacturing/materials engineer. Cracking initiated at mechanical marks located on the surface of the outer diameter of a planetary post at the transition radius and was propagated by high-cycle fatigue in service. These crack initiation defects were most likely produced by a machining or a surface finishing tool. Fractographic evidence suggests that high stresses were also encountered in service and played a significant role in the premature cracking of these components. The debate centers on whether the components would have failed in the absence of the surface defects. There were several manufacturers of this component, which are compared in this study. The workmanship on the outer diameter of the planetary post at the transition radius of a carrier that had not failed, manufactured by Company B, was superior to that of the two cracked carriers produced by Company A. However, analysis of the service conditions indicates that the components may have been loaded near the yield strength of the material.     

Laser Surface Modification of Ti-6Al-4V with Addition of Pr

The behaviour of oxidation at elevated tem-peratures and fretting in the laser-alloyed layer ofTi-6Al-4V with the addition of Pr was studied.The results show that the addition of Pr changes thestructure of oxide scale of Ti-6Al-4V,controls theshort-range diffusion of oxygen to thescale/substrate interface and increases the adhe-sion and ductility of the scale,thus changing theoxidation kinetics and considerably reducingoxidation rate.The analysis of fretting test showsthat the existence of high hardness layer in the al-loyed zone,fine dendrites perpendicular to the sur-face of the high hardness layer and the oxide scaleproduced during fretting at elevated temperaturesare all beneficial to the improvement of wear resist-ance.     

Notch effects on high-cycle fatigue properties of Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy at cryogenic temperatures

Notch effects on the high-cycle fatigue properties of the forged Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy at cryogenic temperatures were investigated. Also, the high-cycle fatigue data were compared with the rolled Ti-5Al-2.5Sn ELI alloy. The one million cycles fatigue strength (FS) of the smooth specimen for the forged Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy increased with a decrease of test temperature. However, the FS of each notched specimen at 4 K were lower than those at 77 K. On the other hand, the FS of the smooth and the notched specimens for the forged Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy at 4 K were lower than those for the rolled Ti-5Al-2.5Sn ELI alloy. This is considered to be the early initiation of the fatigue crack in the forged Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy compares with the forged Ti-5Al-2.5Sn ELI.     

Inductive hot-pressing of titanium and titanium alloy powders

Inductive hot-pressing is a field-assisted sintering process (FAST) in which an electrical current is used to enhance the densification of the powder. Inductive hot-pressing could be employed to enable titanium powder to reach a higher density in less time than the pressing and sintering process. In this study, titanium and titanium alloy powders with different features were processed by means of inductive hot-pressing. The influence of processing temperature on density, microstructure, quantity of interstitial elements and hardness was investigated. Generally, practically fully dense materials were obtained without any carbon pick-up, even if the materials were in contact with the graphite matrix during processing. Nevertheless, there was an increment of the nitrogen content and some oxygen pick-up, especially for the powders with smaller particle size. Hardness is not significantly affected by the pressing temperature, but it strongly depends on the amount of interstitials.     

氢辅助气体捕捉法制备泡沫Ti-6Al-4V及其机理研究

对气体捕捉法制备泡沫Ti-6Al-4V过程中未发泡的坯料进行置氢处理,然后再进行等温发泡。运用阿基米德原理对发泡后坯料孔隙率进行测量。通过OM和SEM对坯料内部微观特征进行观察。研究氢对坯料等温发泡过程的影响规律及作用机制。结果表明:质量分数为0.15%的氢能将坯料最佳发泡温度降低60℃,即在890℃下孔隙率可达到32.88%(体积分数),孔径达到160μm,孔洞分布弥散的泡沫Ti-6Al-4V。主要机理:氢以降低坯料(α+β)/β相转变温度的方式,提高基体内塑性较好的β相比例,并能在一定程度上软化α相,降低坯料高温流变应力,进而降低最佳发泡温度。     

Correlation of fatigue properties and microstructure in investment cast Ti-6Al-4V welds

The effect of microstructural characteristics on high-cycle fatigue properties and fatigue crack propagation behavior of welded regions of an investment cast Ti-6Al-4V were investigated. High-cycle fatigue and fatigue crack propagation tests were conducted on the welded regions, which were processed by two different welding methods: tungsten inert gas (TIG) and electron beam (EB) welding. Test data were analyzed in relation to microstructure, tensile properties, and fatigue fracture mode. The base metal was composed of an alpha plate colony structure transformed to a basket-weave structure with thin platelets after welding and annealing. High-cycle fatigue results indicated that fatigue strength of the EB weld was lower than that of the base metal or the TIG weld because of the existence of large micropores formed during welding, although it had the highest yield strength. In the case of the fatigue crack propagation, the EB weld composed of thinner platelets had a faster crack propagation rate than the base metal or the TIG weld. The effective microstructural feature determining the fatigue crack propagation rate was found to be the width of platelets because it was well matched with the reversed cyclic plastic zone size calculated in the threshold ΔK regime.     

气体捕捉法制备泡沫Ti-6Al-4V三明治结构与性能评价

基于气体捕捉法制备泡沫钛三明治结构工艺,对以钢包套+Ti-6Al-4V板+Ti-6Al-4V粉的封装工艺制备的泡沫Ti-6Al-4V三明治结构预制坯进行了900℃下不同变形量的轧制,并进行了950℃/10h的等温发泡。通过SEM对不同状态的三明治结构芯部孔洞状态进行观察和测量,探究了轧制变形量对泡沫Ti-6Al-4V三明治结构预制坯等温发泡行为的影响。结果表明:轧制主要是以沿轧制方向拉长孔洞和增加孔洞连通的方式影响泡沫Ti-6Al-4V三明治结构芯部,且轧制变形量越大越严重,但对孔洞内壁形态及孔洞在垂直于轧向平面内的形态未产生影响。当预制坯轧制变形量为80%时,经等温发泡成功制备了面板厚度为362μm,芯部孔隙率达到40%的泡沫Ti-6Al-4V三明治结构,其在高应变速率下抗压强度达到824.8 MPa,400℃下热导率仅为致密金属的52.8%。     

Hydrogen Treatment of Cast Ti-6Al-4V Alloy

This paper presents the results of an investiga-tion of the effect of hydrogen treatment onmicrostructures and tensile and low cycle fatigueproperties of a Ti-6Al-4V cast alloy.The phasetransformation and the refining mechanism of thecast microstructure during the process of hydrogentreatment were studied.It was found that afterhydrogen treatment,the coarse Widmanstttenstructure of the as-cast Ti alloy was transformedinto a very fine and equiaxed α+β microstructurewithout any GBα phase.The tensile strength andductility and the low cycle fatigue life of thehydrogen treated specimens were significantly im-proved.     

Strain Accumulation in Ti-6Al-4V during Fatigue at High Mean Stress

The effect of mean stress and frequency on the high cycle fatigue behavior of Ti-6Al-4V has been investigated. It has been shown that a transition in the fatigue behavior occurs at a stress ratio of approximately 0.7. Above this value, the material exhibits measurable strain accumulation and necking. Since Ti-6Al-4V is susceptible to room temperature creep, an empirical model was developed using static creep data in an attempt to predict the cyclic behavior of the material. The model was unable to account for the large amounts of strain seen experimentally. In addition, closer examination of the data revealed that the deformation was more closely related to the number of cycles than to time.     

Fracture mechanics based fretting fatigue life predictions in Ti-6Al-4V

A fracture mechanics based crack propagation analysis is developed to work directly with the output of a contact mechanics stress analysis for fretting fatigue. A series of remote load fatigue tests were conducted on specimens that had previously been subjected to fretting fatigue loading conditions. The growth of these prior fretting induced cracks were monitored and compared to results from the crack propagation analysis. A combined fatigue crack formation and propagation analysis was then applied to other fretting fatigue experiments with good success. The creation of fretting fatigue stress-life curves is also demonstrated.     

Ti-6Al-4V等离子弧焊对接板超塑胀形特性研究

通过自由胀形实验研究了等离子弧焊对接板的超塑胀形性能及影响因素．结果表明等离子弧焊对接板具有良好的超塑胀形性能，其极限胀形高度可超过凹模半径．在胀形过程中，焊缝组织发展成球状α 长条状α组织．焊缝和基体间存在变形不均匀性．在同样的胀形条件下，胀形气压有—最佳数值，气压过大或过小均降低极限胀形高度．最后给出了一个应用等离子弧焊对接板进行超塑胀形的实例．     

On the application of the Kitagawa-Takahashi diagram to foreign-object damage and high-cycle fatigue

The role of foreign-object damage (FOD) and its effect on high-cycle fatigue (HGF) failures in a turbine engine Ti-6Al-4V alloy is examined in the context of the use of the Kitagawa-Takahashi diagram to describe the limiting conditions for such failures. Experimentally, FOD is simulated by firing 1 and 3.2 mm diameter steel spheres onto the flat specimen surface of tensile fatigue specimens at velocities of 200 and 300 m/s. Such damage was found to markedly reduce the fatigue strength of the alloy, primarily due to four factors: stress concentration, microcrack formation, impact-induced plasticity and tensile residual stresses associated with the impact damage. Two groups of fatigue failures could be identified. The first group initiated directly at the impact site, and can be readily described through the use of a fatigue-crack growth threshold concept. Specifically, a Kitagawa-Takahashi approach is presented where the limiting threshold conditions are defined by the stress-concentration corrected smooth-bar fatigue limit (at microstructurally small crack sizes) and a “worst-case” fatigue-crack growth threshold (at larger crack sizes). The second group of failures was caused by fatigue cracks that initiated at locations far from the impact site in regions of high tensile residual stresses, the magnitude of which was computed numerically and measured experimentally using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Specifically, these failures could be rationalized due to the superposition of the residual stresses on the far-field applied mean stress, leading to a locally elevated load ratio (ratio of minimum to maximum loads). The effects of residual stress, stress concentration, and microstructurally small cracks are combined in a modified Kitagawa-Takahashi approach to provide a mechanistic basis for evaluating the detrimental effect of FOD on HCF failures in Ti-6Al-4V blade alloys.     

Preparation method of low-oxygen Ti-6Al-4V alloy by solid state re-deoxidation using calcium

The oxygen concentration in commercial Ti-6Al-4?V alloys was reduced to less than 400?ppm in this study by the method of solid state re-deoxidation, using calcium as a reductant. The concentration of oxygen in the deoxidised Ti-6Al-4?V alloy was 630?ppm at the optimum deoxidation temperature of 1000°C. When the degree of vacuum was increased and re-deoxidation was carried out, the oxygen concentration decreased to 355?ppm. Therefore, it is possible to prepare a Ti-6Al-4?V alloy with an oxygen concentration of less than 400?ppm by using the solid state re-deoxidation method at a high degree of vacuum of 1.5?×?10-6 Torr.