Effect of TiB Orientation on Near-Threshold Fatigue Crack Propagation in TiB-Reinforced Ti-3Al-2.5V Matrix Composites Treated with Heat Extrusion.

TiB-reinforced Ti-3Al-2.5V matrix composites, in which TiB whiskers are oriented parallel to the direction of heat extrusion, were fabricated via mechanical alloying and hot isostatic pressing (HIP). To investigate the near-threshold fatigue crack propagation in TiB-reinforced Ti-3Al-2.5V matrix composites, stress intensity factor K-decreasing tests were conducted for disk-shaped compact specimens having two different orientations of TiB whiskers at force ratios from 0.1 to 0.8 under ambient conditions. The crack growth rates, da/dN, for the composites incorporating TiB whiskers oriented perpendicular to the direction of crack growth were constantly lower than those obtained in the case where the orientation was parallel at the same stress intensity range ΔK, while the threshold stress intensity range, ΔKth, was higher. This effect can be explained by the increase in the degree of roughness-induced crack closure resulting from the perpendicular TiB, because fatigue cracks preferentially propagated across the boundaries between the matrix and the TiB in certain regions. In contrast, the effective threshold stress intensity range, ΔKeff,th, for composites was unaffected by the TiB orientation at low force ratios.

Strengthening Mechanism of Titanium Boride Whisker-Reinforced Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Matrix Composites with the TiB Orientation Perpendicular to the Loading Direction.

We fabricated fully dense titanium boride (TiB) whisker-reinforced Ti-6Al-4V alloy matrix (Ti6Al4V-TiB) composites, with a homogeneous dispersion, a TiB orientation perpendicular to the loading direction (; two-dimensional random direction) and an intimate Ti/TiB interface without an intermediate interfacial layer in the Ti-6Al-4V alloy matrix, by spark plasma sintering. Microstructural analysis allows us to present the tensile properties of the Ti6Al4V-TiB composites with the theories for discontinuous fiber-reinforced composites. The Ti6Al4V-TiB 10 vol.% composite yielded a Young's modulus of 130 GPa, an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 1193 MPa and an elongation of 2.8%. The obtained experimental Young's modulus and UTS of the Ti6Al4V-TiB composites were consistent with the theoretical values estimated by the Halpin-Tsai and Shear-lag models. The good agreement between our experimental results and these models indicates that the TiB whiskers behave as discontinuous fibers in the Ti-6Al-4V alloy matrix.