Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2015
In this work we examine a Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb alloy obtained with an additive manufacturing technique by Electron Beam Melting (EBM) by conducting monotonic and cyclic loading experiments both on tension and compression samples for investigating the influence of the microstructure in strain accumulation process by fatigue loading. The residual strain maps corresponding to different applied stress levels, number of cycles and microstructures are obtained through the use of high-resolution Digital Image Correlation (DIC). The strain maps were overlaid with the images of the microstructure and detailed analyses were performed to investigate the features of the microstructure where high local strain heterogeneities arise. Such experiments, conducted ex-situ at room temperature, allow to characterize the effect of different microstructures on the strain accumulation process, and to clearly identify the role of the microstructural features of this TiAl intermetallic alloy on the fatigue initiation process.