Dynamic fracture toughness of TA15ELI alloy studied by instrumented impact test

The dynamic fracture toughness of TA15ELI alloy with two types of microstructures was studied by instrumented impact test. Charpy specimens with both the 0.2 mm U-notch and the a/W = 0.2 pre-crack were adopted to compare notch sensitivity in the two microstructures. The result shows that the specimen with Widmanstätten microstructure exhibits a better dynamic fracture toughness and lower notch sensitivity than that with lath-like microstructure. Fracture surfaces in the case of the two microstructures are analyzed to have a ductile and brittle mixed feature under dynamic loading. The fracture surface of lath-like microstructure is composed of dimples and tear ridges, while that of Widmanstätten microstructure is covered with rough block-like facets and dimples and tear ridges. The α phase boundaries and α/β interfaces act as locations for void nucleation and crack arrest and deviation. The decrease in width of α phase lamellae leads to the increase in the amount of boundaries and interfaces, which causes the increase in the consumption of impact energy and results in the improvement in dynamic fracture toughness.