Effects of cooling rate on the fracture properties of TA15 ELI alloy plates

The effects of cooling rate on the mechanical properties and the fatigue crack growth behavior of TA15 ELI alloy plates with different microstructures were investigated at room temperature. The results indicate that the cooling rate (water quench, air cooling, and furnace cooling) has a pronounced influence on the mechanical properties and on the fatigue crack growth, especially for air cooling and furnace cooling. Optical microstructure observation and scanning electron microscopy of tensile fracture surfaces were performed to gain an insight into the mechanism of properties. The dependence of mechanical properties and fatigue crack growth behavior on the cooling rate can be attributed to the α lamellae width and the α colony size, which induce the change in slip length. The microstructure produced by air cooling shows the best damage tolerance behavior when compared with water quench and furnace cooling.