Abstract
The effects of a post‐weld heat treatment on the fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth behaviour of electron beam welds of an α + β titanium alloy, Ti–6.5Al–1.9Zr–0.25Si have been studied. Welds in the stress‐relieved condition exhibited poor fracture toughness due to poor energy absorbing capacity of the thin α and α′ phases. Post‐weld heat treatment which resulted in the decomposition of α′ to α + β and the coarsening of intragranular and intergranular α resulted in improved toughness. This improvement in the toughness is related to improved ductility leading to crack blunting, crack path deviation at the thick intragranular and intergranular α phase. Fatigue crack growth resistance of welds was superior to the base metal in the α + β heat‐treated condition. The superior crack growth resistance of the welds is due to the acicular α microstructure which results in a tortuous crack path and possible crack closure arising from crack path tortuosity.
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