Crystal plasticity based investigation of the effects of additive manufactured voids on the strain localisation behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V

The presence of defects produced by additive manufactured (AM) processes in structural Ti alloys such as Ti-6Al-4V is known to have serious implications on the deformation and fatigue behaviour of engineering components. However, there is little understanding about the localised plastic deformation patterns that develop around AM defects, and the associated local conditions that could lead to the nucleation of micro-cracks under creep loading conditions. In this work, the effects of the morphology and volume fraction of AM defects and temperature on the strain localisation behaviour around such defects in Ti-6Al-4V will be addressed. To that purpose, a novel rate-dependent crystal plasticity formulation is proposed to describe the mechanical behaviour of the alloy’s predominant α′(HCP)-phase. Representative volume elements (RVEs) of the AM produced microstructures are digitally reconstructed from EBSD orientation maps obtained on planes perpendicular and transversal to the microstructure’s AM growth direction. Calibration of the single crystal model for the α′-phase is carried out from macroscopic uniaxial tensile data from polycrystalline AM specimens at different strain rates and temperatures and published creep data. Furthermore, RVEs containing AM defects of different morphologies and volume fractions are relied upon to investigate the strain localisation behaviour around the defects under uniaxial loading at ambient and high temperatures. It is found that the extent of the localised accumulated plastic strain around defects depends greatly on whether the voids surface are smooth or have sharp corners, with the latter being associated with more severe localisation patterns. Moreover, a numerical investigation into the crack initiation behaviour of AM Ti-6Al-4V under uniaxial creep loading at 450 ° C revealed that the development of the local conditions suitable for the nucleation of creep damage/micro-cracks is accelerated in the presence of typical AM defects, and the extent of that acceleration depends strongly on their morphology. An AM defect shape parameter is introduced to quantify the way their morphology affects the time for creep crack initiation/damage. •A novel crystal plasticity model for α′- phase AM Ti-6Al-4V was proposed.•The severity of the predicted localised deformation patterns around AM defects was studied.•Gradients of plastic deformation in grains found at AM defects’ surface were determined.•Two micro-crack indicators were explor