Effect of Wave Process of Plastic Deformation at Forging on the Fatigue Fracture Mechanism of Titanium Compressor Disks of Gas Turbine Engine

The low-cycle fatigue behavior of the VT3-1 titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-3Mo-2Cr alloy) under loading with a triangular and trapezoidal shape of cycle waveform was studied on round specimens prepared from forged compressor disks of a gas turbine engine. The filament type structure after forging has alternating filaments with the ductile and quasi-brittle state of the metal as a result of the wave process of plastic deformation during the metal forging process. The crack propagation, regardless of the cyclic waveform shape, occurs by the crack meso-tunneling mechanism: initially, the cracks propagate along the filaments by a quasi-brittle mechanism with the formation of a facetted pattern relief on the fracture surface reflecting the two-phase structure of the titanium alloy, and then, the bridge between the meso-tunnels is fractured with the formation of fatigue striations. The part of the crack growth duration N-p/N-f in the durability N-f is determined on the basis of measuring the fatigue striation spacing, and it depends on the crack path with respect to the material filaments. The growth of a fatigue crack in the case of in-service failure of a compressor disk of a gas turbine engine is considered, taking into account the crack meso-tunneling effect, and the fatigue crack growth duration in the disk is determined on the basis of quantitative fractography.

Automated summary

The study reveals that the low-cycle fatigue behavior of the VT3-1 titanium alloy is mainly determined by the crack meso-tunneling mechanism, with crack propagation path depending on the material filaments.