J Mater Sci Technol ›› 1995, Vol. 11 ›› Issue (1): 11-14.

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In-situ Observation of Initiation and Propagation of Cleavage Microcrack in TiAl

Kewei GAO; Qizhi CHEN; Wuyang CHU and Chimei Hsiao(Dept.of Materials Physics, University of Science and Technolgy Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China)   

  • Received:1995-01-28 Revised:1995-01-28 Online:1995-01-28 Published:2009-10-10

Abstract: Nucleating and propagating of nancrack formed in dislocation free zone (DFZ) for the brittle TiAl alloy has been studied through in-situ tensile test in TEM and analyzed using microfracture mechanics. The resufts show that a lot of dislocations can be emitted from a crack tip when the applied stress intensity Kla i5 larger than the stress intensity for dislocatin emission Kle=1.4 M Pa·m1/2 and a dislocation free zone, which smetimes is a close zone, can form after reaching equilibrium. The DFZ is a elastic zone with large strain and then the stress in the DFZmight equal to the cohesive strength σth because the crack tip is still sharp. When Kla is larger than the stress intensity for nanocrack nucleation Kli =2.4 M Pa·m1/2, the stress within a certain range in the DFZ would equal to σth and then a nanocrack initiates in the DFZ or sometimes at the notch tip. The nanocrack formed in the DFZ is stable and can propagate a small distance in cleavage mode through multiplication and movement of dislocation in the plastic zone, during keeping constant displacement. Increasing Kla can make the crack stably propagate continuously or discontinuously and it means that the stre5s intensity for crack propagation, Klp, is larger than Kli. Therefre, Kle