Hydrides precipitation in Ti6Al4V titanium alloy used for airframe manufacturing

Abstract

The aeronautical industry is a sector constantly looking for new materials and equipment because of its tendency to expand quickly. The Ti6Al4V titanium alloy is used frequently in the aeronautic, aerospace, automobile, chemical and medical industry because it presents high strength combined with low density (approximately 4.5 g/cm3), good creep resistance (up to 550°C), excellent corrosion resistance, high flexibility, good fatigue and biocompatibility. As a result of these properties, this titanium alloy is considered an excellent material for manufacturing structural parts in the aircraft industry for modern aeronautic structures, especially for airframes and aero-engines. But its use is also problematic because the Ti6Al4V titanium alloy manifests hydrogen embrittlement, by means of hydrides precipitation in the metal. The Ti6Al4V alloy becomes brittle and fractures because of hydrogen diffusion into metal and because titanium hydrides appear and create pressure from within the metal, thus generating corrosion. Because of titanium hydrides, the titanium alloy suffers from reduced ductility, tensile strength and toughness, which can result in fractures of aeronautical parts. This poses a very serious problem for aircrafts. In this paper, rapid hydrogen embrittlement is presented along with XRD, SEM and TEM analysis. Its goal is to detect the presence of titanium hydrides and to spot the initial cracks in the metallic material.