Fatigue threshold and crack propagation in γ-TiAl sheets

The fatigue crack propagation behaviour of two different microstructures — a coarse-grained designed fully lamellar (DFL), and a fine-grained near γ (FG) — of a Ti–46.5 at.% Al–4 at.% (Cr, Nb, Ta, B) alloy was studied. Both the threshold of stress intensity range and standard long crack growth behavior were determined. A special technique was applied to separate the different mechanisms — intrinsic and extrinsic effects — and their changes with crack length. The fatigue crack propagation rate of long cracks is much smaller in the DFL microstructure than in the FG microstructure at the same stress intensity range. The effective threshold of stress intensity range of both microstructures is about 1.7 MPa√m. The threshold of stress intensity range shows a strong R-curve behavior. In other words the propagation–non-propagation conditions of cracks are significantly influenced by the crack extension. The long crack thresholds of stress intensity range at the stress ratio 0.1 are relatively large; they are about 4.5 and 8 MPa√m in the DFL and the FG microstructure, respectively. The differences in the crack growth behavior between the two microstructures are mainly induced by extrinsic resistance mechanisms.