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Microstructural Origin of Flutes and Their Use in Distinguishing Striationless Fatigue Cleavage from Stress-Corrosion Cracking in Titanium Alloys

1981 23 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
DA Meyn, EJ Brooks

Summary

This study compared titanium alloy (Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V) specimens fractured by both low-stress striationless fatigue and stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) to determine distinguishing fracture features. The presence of microplastic fracture features called flutes was found to be uniquely characteristic of SCC and absent from low-stress fatigue fractures, arising from planar slip tendency and multiple cleavage during crack propagation.

Postfracture analysis does not always distinguish striationless low-stress fatigue from stress-corrosion cracking (SCC), since both are characterized by cleavage, together with other less distinct fracture modes. Studies of identical specimens of Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V broken under both conditions suggest that the presence of certain microplastic fracture features called flutes may be uniquely characteristic of SCC, and absent from low-stress striationless fatigue fractures. Some new observations concerning the microstructural origins of flutes verify that they arise from a tendency toward planar slip in α and α-β alloys and from the presence of multiple cleavage during crack propagation under certain circumstances, including SCC.

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