An investigation on fatigue and dwell-fatigue crack growth in Ti–6Al–2Sn–4Zr–2Mo–0.1Si

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a combined experimental and analytical study of fatigue crack growth and dwell-fatigue crack growth in forged Ti–6Al–2Sn–4Zr–2Mo–0.2%Si (Ti-6242). Following an initial characterization of microstructures and basic mechanical properties, the micromechanisms of long fatigue crack growth are presented for three microstructures. These include: a duplex α/ β structure, an elongated α/ β structure, and a colony α/ β microstructure. The colony microstructure is shown to have the best resistance to fatigue crack growth. The elongated α structure has intermediate resistance, while the equiaxed α structure exhibits the fastest fatigue crack growth rates. The fatigue crack growth rates in the near-threshold, Paris and high Δ K regimes are then characterized with empirical crack growth laws that relate the crack growth rates to the stress intensity factor range and key parameters on the fatigue crack growth curve. Finally, the results of dwell-fatigue crack growth experiments are presented for the three microstructures. The dwell-fatigue crack growth rates are shown to be almost identical to the fatigue crack growth rates in the intermediate Δ K regime. However, the fatigue crack growth rates are faster at higher stress intensity factor ranges. The underlying mechanisms of dwell crack growth are compared with the mechanisms of fatigue crack growth before discussing the implications of the work for the prediction of dwell or fatigue crack growth in Ti-6242. The effects of cyclic frequency on fatigue crack growth are also explored.