Analysis of the change of direct current potential difference and diameter distribution of thin pure titanium wire subjected to tensile and fatigue loads for fracture prediction

Pure titanium thin wires have been used for medical fields. It is important to investigate the possibility of non-destructive inspection of pure titanium thin wires for the safety utilization of them. In order to investigate a fracture prediction method for a pure titanium thin wire, we performed tensile and fatigue tests and a finite element analysis to analyze the changes of direct current potential difference and diameter distribution of the pure titanium thin wire during tensile and fatigue tests. It was found that a direct current potential difference method may be available for evaluating the tensile and fatigue damages of the pure titanium thin wire. In the tensile and fatigue tests, the normalized direct current potential difference increased almost linearly with an increase in the nominal strain, and a sign of an increase of the normalized direct current potential difference was observed when the fatigue crack propagated. Therefore, the nondestructive inspection could be conducted by setting a tolerance value of the normalized direct current potential difference, or detecting a sign of an increase in the normalized direct current potential difference. In addition, a method of predicting the fracture location from the diameter distribution change of the pure titanium thin wire was studied. The method could be applied to tensile and fatigue fractures.