Cyclic behaviour modelling of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V lattice structures

The present work is concerned with the numerical modelling of the cyclic behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V lattice structures. In the study, diamond structures of titanium alloy produced by the additive laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) method with different degrees of relative density were used. Realistic geometric models of the studied mesostructures were generated using computed microtomography, taking into account the imperfections of the material resulting from the manufacturing process. The numerical calculations also took into account the actual material hardening curve in the elastic-plastic strain range. One of the achievements of this work is the numerical modelling of cyclic loading of realistic mesostructures with their imperfections. The areas of the mesostructures most susceptible to fatigue cracking have been identified and analysed. True hysteresis loops and values of local stress and strain amplitude were determined at the locations of highest stress concentration in cyclically loaded diamond structures. The main achievement of the present work was the modelling of the macroscopic fatigue life of the investigated mesostructures based on the true values of stress and strain at the locations most exposed to fatigue cracking. For this purpose, a stress criterion for fatigue cracking of Ti-6Al-4V lattice structures fabricated by the additive LPBF method was proposed.