3D characterization of trans- and inter-lamellar fatigue crack in (α + β) Ti alloy

This paper presents a three dimensional image processing strategy that has been developed to quantitatively analyze and correlate the path of a fatigue crack with the lamellar microstructure found in Ti-6246. The analysis is carried out on X-ray microtomography images acquired in situ during uniaxial fatigue testing. The crack, the primary β-grain boundaries and the α lamellae have been segmented separately and merged for the first time to allow a better characterization and understanding of their mutual interaction. This has particularly emphasized the role of translamellar crack growth at a very high propagation angle with regard to the lamellar orientation, supporting the central role of colonies favorably oriented for basal 〈a〉 slip to guide the crack in the fully lamellar microstructure of Ti alloy.