Effect of Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment on the very high cycle fatigue behavior of TC11

Abstract : As an important engine component material, TC11 (Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si) titanium alloy is subjected to high frequency cyclic loading and its failure occurs beyond 109 cycles. It is thus essential to investigate the very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) behavior of this alloy. Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment (SMAT) is a promising surface treatment technique to improve fatigue strength by modifying the surface microstructure. Therefore, it is important to understand the fatigue damage and failure process of SMATed titanium alloy in the VHCF regime. In this work, VHCF tests of TC11 before and after SMAT under fully reversed loading were conducted at room temperature by using an ultrasonic fatigue testing machine at a frequency of 20 kHz. The preliminary results seem to indicate that SMAT can reduce fatigue strength and fatigue life of TC11. Fracture surface analysis of the specimens before and after SMAT was performed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) to investigate the mechanisms of crack initiation and propagation. Particular attention was paid to fatigue crack initiation sites. The effect of SMAT on damage mechanism of SMATed TC11 in the VHCF regime was discussed.