Crack Orientation Dependence for Fatigue Behavior of Titanium Single Crystals

In this present study, the fatigue behavior of titanium single crystals containing cracks growing in different crystallographic orientations has been investigated. To investigate fatigue fracture behavior of small single crystals, plain bending fatigue test method for thin sheet specimen was developed. One end of the sheet specimen is fixed at a voice coil of the loudspeaker and the other end is set free. A bending mode resonance occurs in the specimen due to forced vibration at the fixed end. In A-specimen, the notch plane and the direction are (11-20) and [1-100], respectively, the crack propagated parallel to {1-100} plane and striation-like markings were observed on the fatigue surfaces. In B-specimen with a notch of (1-100) and [11-20], the crack also propagated parallel to {1-100} plane as similar to A-specimen. These cracks are deduced to extend by alternating shear on two intersecting prismatic slip systems at the crack tip. In F-specimen with a notch of (0001) and [11-20], the crack propagated parallel to (0001) and twins were observed near the crack. As a result, S-N curves of each specimen showed strong orientation dependence and the fatigue strength of F-specimen was the highest in these specimens.