Improvements in the fatigue strength of Ti-6Al-4V through microstructure control

Abstract

Fatigue deformation and stage I (shear mode) crack initiation in Ti-6Al-4V alloy test pieces have been studied using optical microscopy. Two types of stage I fatigue crack initiation were observed, (a) alongα/β interfaces and (b) transcrystalline initiation acrossα grains in partly transformed microstructures and acrossαβ interfaces in fully transformed microstructures. The α/β interface cracking occurred predominantly in the low stress regions of the test pieces. These observations suggested that a microstructure with a smallα grain size, to minimize the mean free slip path, and with minimum lengths ofα/β interface, would have a high fatigue strength. Such a microstructure, with anα grain size of < 10 μm, and spheroidal or near spheroidalβ particles, was produced by thermo-mechanical processing. The rotating cantilever fatigue strength of this microstructure, ± 670 MN m⁻² at 10⁻⁷ cycles, compares with fatigue strengths in the range ± 480 to ± 590 MN m⁻² for commercial Ti-6Al-4V bars.