Fracture characteristics of titanium VT1-0 and Zr–1 wt. % Nb alloy in different structures under gigacycle fatigue loading regime

Fatigue testing of ultrafine-grained, fine-grained and coarse-grained VT1-0 and Zr–1 wt. % Nb samples was performed under conditions of gigacycle fatigue regime. It was established that ultrafine-grained titanium and zirconium alloy samples initiate increasing fatigue strength of up to 1.3 times for titanium and 1.7 times for zirconium alloy within gigacycle region (109 cycles) comparable to fine-grained and coarse-grained samples. Analysis of fracture surface morphology has revealed the similar fractured structure in coarse-grained and ultrafine-grained titanium and zirconium alloy samples. Fractures in ultrafine-grained titanium and zirconium alloy samples exhibit quasi-brittle pattern.