Increasing high-temperature fatigue resistance of polysynthetic twinned TiAl single crystal by plastic strain delocalization

Polysynthetic twinned (PST) TiAl single crystal possesses great potentials for high-temperature applica-tions due to its excellent combination of strength, ductility and creep resistance. However, a critical property for high-temperature application of such material involving high-temperature fatigue properties re-mains unknown. Here, the high-temperature high-cycle fatigue performance of PST TiAl single crystal has been studied. The result shows that PST TiAl single crystal can withstand more than 10 7 cyclic loadings at 975 degrees C under a stress amplitude of 270 MPa, which is significantly higher than traditional TiAl alloys. Experimental observations and atomistic simulations indicate that the improvement of fatigue resistance is attributed to the plastic strain delocalization in uniform lamellar structure, and the plastic deformation is well-distributed and sufficient in each lamella. Even in the alpha(2) lamella with difficult slippage, a large number of stacking fault structures can be observed. The < c + a > dislocations in alpha(2) tend to dissociate into a Frank partial with b = 1/6 (2) over barO (3) over bar , forming a ribbon of I1 fault which ensures the continuity of deformation. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Chinese Society for Metals.