Xiao-Long Gao

Effects of the Heterogeneity in the Electron Beam Welded Joint on Mechanical Properties of Ti6Al4V Alloy

The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of microstructure heterogeneity on the tensile and low cycle fatigue properties of electron beam welded (EBW) Ti6Al4V sheets. To achieve this goal, the tensile and low cycle fatigue property in the EBW joints and base metal (BM) specimens is compared. During the tensile testing, digital image correlation technology was used to measure the plastic strain field evolution within the specimens. The experimental results showed that the tensile ductility and low cycle fatigue strength of EBW joints are lower than that of BM specimens, mainly because of the effect of microstructure heterogeneity of the welded joint. Moreover, the EBW joints exhibit the cyclic hardening behavior during low fatigue process, while BM specimens exhibit the cyclic softening behavior. Compared with the BM specimens with uniform microstructure, the heterogeneity of microstructure in the EBW joint is found to decrease the mechanical properties of welded joint.

Comparison of Tensile Damage Evolution in Ti6A14V Joints Between Laser Beam Welding and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding

The present paper studied the evolution of tensile damage in joints welded using laser beam welding (LBW) and gas tungsten arc welding (TIG) under a uniaxial tensile load. The damage evolution in the LBW joints and TIG-welded joints was studied by using digital image correlation (DIC) technology and monitoring changes in Young’s modulus during tensile testing. To study the mechanism of void nucleation and growth in the LBW joints and TIG-welded joints, test specimens with various amounts of plastic deformation were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Compared with TIG-welded joints, LBW-welded joints have a finer microstructure and higher microhardness in the fusion zone. The SEM analysis and DIC test results indicated that the critical strain of void nucleation was greater in the LBW-welded joints than in the TIG-welded joints, while the growth rate of voids was lower in the LBW-welded joints than in the TIG-welded joints. Thus, the damage ratio in the LBW joints was lower than that in the TIG-welded joints during tensile testing. This can be due to the coarser martensitic α′ and the application of TC-1 welding rods in the TIG-welded joint.

On the Use of Infrared Thermography for Analysis of Fatigue Damage in Ti6Al4V-Welded Joints

The present work is aimed at comparatively studying fatigue damage evolution of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser beam-welded (LBW) joint and the base metal (BM) of Ti6Al4V alloy subjected to cyclic loading. To reveal crack nucleation and propagation during the fatigue process, in situ fatigue was generated using infrared measurement methods. The results indicate that the rate of damage accumulated in the LBW joint was higher than in the BM specimens during a fatigue test, which decreased the fatigue life of the LBW joint. This observation is attributable to the LBW joint fusion zone microstructure, which has a higher void nucleation and growth rate compared with the BM microstructure.