05/09/2018 Fan Blade Titanium Alloys

Fan Blade Titanium Alloys

Fan Blade Titanium Alloys

Two main topics of titanium research have developed International renown at Swansea UTC; fundamental understanding of
“cold dwell sensitivity” in near-alpha titanium alloys and advanced lifing correlations supporting component design and
operation.

Cold dwell behaviour was first acknowledged from the in-service failure of RB211 fan discs in the 1970s. Work based at
Swansea UTC demonstrated that the combination of anisotropic crystal plasticity and stress redistribution was a pre-
requisite for “quasi-cleavage facet formation” and dwell induced failures. A series of seminal academic papers, keynote
presentations at International conferences resulted describing the “Evans-Bache” model. The application of electron back
scattered diffraction for measuring facet inclination on fracture surfaces was pioneered at Swansea UTC and recent codes
have endorsed automated quantitative tilt fractography. Ultimately, this led to the award of the IoM3 Harvey Flower Titanium
Prize for “contribution to an improved understanding of titanium metallurgy or alloy development” to Prof WJ Evans in 2007
and Prof MR Bache in 2013.

Unrivalled testing facilities for the characterisation of constitutive behaviour have underpinned the development of advanced
lifing algorithms applied to “Class A” safety critical titanium components. Research conducted under EPSRC grants along
with Rolls-Royce private venture funding has married fundamental materials knowledge to non-linear, strain based lifing
procedures applied to Ti6/4 fan disc materials employed across the fleet of Rolls-Royce Trent engines. Similar studies were
completed on Ti 6246 compressor disc alloy. Such techniques encompassed intimate knowledge of creep-fatigue-
environmental interactions gathered from precise, empirical experimentation in the Swansea laboratories. Fatigue crack
initiation and crack propagation were predicted based only on deformation characteristics in the alloy.

Further reading:

M.R. Bache, “A review of dwell sensitive fatigue in titanium alloys: the role of microstructure, texture and operating
conditions”, Int. J. Fatigue, 25, pp.1079-1087, 2003. 10.1016/S0142-1123(03)00145-2
W.J. Evans and M.R. Bache, “Dwell-sensitive fatigue under biaxial loads in the near alpha titanium alloy IMI685”, Int. J.
Fatigue, 16, pp.443-452, 1994. 10.1016/0142-1123(94)90194-5
M.R. Bache, M. Cope, H.M. Davies, W.J. Evans and G. Harrison, “Dwell sensitive fatigue in a near alpha titanium alloy at
ambient temperature”, Int. J. Fatigue, 19, Supp. 1, pp. S83-S88, 1997. 10.1016/S0142-1123(97)00020-0
M.T. Whittaker, W.J. Evans, R.J. Lancaster, W. Harrison, P.S. Webster. “The effect of microstructure and texture on
mechanical properties of Ti6-4”. International Journal of Fatigue 31, Issues 11-12 (2009) 2022-2030.
10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2009.02.014
M.T. Whittaker, W. Harrison, R.J. Lancaster, S. Williams "An analysis of modern creep lifing methodologies in the titanium
alloy Ti6-4". Materials Science & Engineering A 577 (2013) 114-119. /10.1016/j.msea.2013.03.030,
W.J. Harrison, M.T. Whittaker, R.J. Lancaster “A Model for Time Dependent Strain Accumulation and Damage at Low
Temperatures in Ti-6Al-4V”. Materials Science & Engineering A 574 (2013) 130-136. /10.1016/j.msea.2013.02.070,

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