Structural, thermal and acoustic aspects of crack propagation in titanium alloys

The aim of this work was to investigate the correlation between structural, acoustic emission and thermal characteristics of the fatigue crack growth in titanium alloys. Cluster analysis of the acoustic emission signals revealed two different types of signals recorded during the development of a fatigue crack. It has been shown experimentally that the evolution of the stored energy tends to an asymptotic value at the final stage of fatigue crack growth and it correlates with the intensification of the twinning process in titanium alloy Ti Grade 2. A correlation was assumed between the stages of change in the heat flux, the cumulative energy of the first cluster of AE signals and the crack length.