Titanium alloy corrosion fatigue crack growth rates prediction: Peridynamics based numerical approach

This study presents a numerical approach for modelling the Corrosion Fatigue Crack Growth (CFCG) in conventional casting and additively manufactured Ti6Al4V alloys. The proposed numerical model, based on Peridynamics (PD), combines the PD Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG) model and PD diffusion model in order to couple the mechanical and diffusion fields existing in the material due to the impact of environmental fatigue. The mechanical field is responsible for the characterisation of the changes to the structure due to the fatigue loading conditions. The diffusion field is based on the modelling of the adsorbed-hydrogen Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC), in particular, the Hydrogen Embrittlement (HE) model is considered. The proposed approach has been validated using experimental data available in the literature showing the capability of the tool to predict the CFCG rates.