STRUCTURE AND FRACTURE OF TITANIUM-ALLOYS

Titanium alloys are characterized by low density, high strength and ex cellent corrosion resistance. Due to their complicated and costly manu facturing and processing, titanium alloys were applied only in the las t four decades. Besides the chemical industry, aerospace industry is o ne of the most important users. The presentation deals with the variet y of microstructure in some (alpha + beta)-titanium alloys applied in the aerospace industry and shows, according to examples from practice, the problematic nature of thick structures having local different mic rostructure, and, as a consequence, different mechanical properties. T he influence of microstructure on mechanical properties and on fractur e morphology will be discussed with primarily the microfractographic a spects being emphasized.