Behavior of the high-temperature titanium alloy IMI 834 under thermo-mechanical and isothermal fatigue conditions

The high-temperature titanium alloy IMI 834 was studied with regard to the stress-strain response under thermo-mechanical fatigue conditions, the evolution of the microstructure, the relevant damage mechanisms and their implications for fatigue life. For this purpose isothermal and thermo-mechanical fatigue tests were performed in the temperature range from 350°C to 650°C in vacuum and air, respectively, and changes in the microstructure were determined by means of transmission electron microscopy. It was found that planar dislocation slip prevails in all tests in which the temperature does not exceed 600°C. Hence, in this temperature range the stress-strain response under thermo-mechanical conditions can be predicted solely based on the isothermal behavior. By contrast, a transition to wavy slip takes place at higher temperatures, affecting significantly the stresses in the low-temperature part of the corresponding thermo-mechanical fatigue tests. Fatigue life was generally observed to be lower in out-of-phase tests as compared to in-phase loading. Furthermore, the tests performed in high vacuum demonstrated that oxidation strongly affects fatigue life, but does not basically change the influence of testing mode on cyclic life. This can mainly be attributed to the additional effect of the acting mean stress.