Microstructure and pore sensitivities in very high cycle fatigue behaviors of titanium alloy welded joints under stress ratios

Abstract

Very high cycle fatigue behavior of electron beam welded TC17 titanium alloy joints under different stress ratios was investigated. The results revealed that the welded joints exhibited different failure modes depending on the stress ratios applied. As the stress ratio increased, the failure probability attributed to welded pores in the fusion zone (FZ) gradually decreased, shifting the failure mode towards fatigue failure induced by the primary α phase in the base metal (BM). Moreover, the stress intensity factor at the edge of fine granular area (FGA) was determined to be the threshold of long crack growth. It was observed that the size of the plastic zone at the crack tip of FGA was related to the acicular α phase structures precipitated through recrystallization in the FZ. The influence of effective size and location of welded pores on fatigue life was further discussed. To gain further insights, improvements were made to the K-T diagram. Consequently, the non-crack propagation zone and the critical safety size of welded pores responsible for initiating cracks in the welded joint were identified. Additionally, the Weibull probability function was employed to determine the average size of welded pores that led to fatigue failure in the welded joints.