Initiation and propagation mechanism of fatigue crack in ultra-thick titanium alloy vacuum electron beam welding joint

The investigation delved into the fatigue properties across various layers of joints in a 130-mm-thick Ti6Al4V- damage tolerance titanium alloy, which had been fabricated through vacuum electron beam welding. Microstructures in welds are inhomogeneous along the thickness direction of joints. The fatigue properties of various layers of joints exhibit minimal differences, with the fatigue limit consistently exceeding 90 % of the base metal. The cracks always initiate on the sample surface, with numerous fatigue striations present on all fractures. Additionally, many dimples are observed in all fracture zones. The fatigue crack propagation mechanism is depicted as a series connection of micro-pores. Micro-pores are formed by inward pitting of material surfaces and nucleate in local plastic deformation zones of the material. Stress concentration of microstructures is an important cause for formation of local plastic deformation zones. After high cycle fatigue experiments, martensite lath-shaped α′ phase in microstructures in the weld is broken and the broken α′ phase pins the dislocations, resulting in microscopic stress concentration.