The current study investigates the load controlled fatigue properties of the microplasma arc welded thin titanium Grade 5 (6Al-4V) sheets. In order to explore the effect of weld geometry on the fatigue, two different welded joints were used in the experimental studies. Load controlled fatigue test results were evaluated to present an outlook on the behaviour of microplasma welded titanium alloy Grade 5 sheets under cyclic loading. Even though the previously published monotonic tests showed successful use of microplasma arc welding to join thin titanium Grade 5 sheets with mechanical properties comparable to the base metal, fatigue life of the welded joints was lower than the lives of samples without welds. In particular, the fatigue performance of overlap joints was very poor. This was presumed to be due to the changed material properties of the heat affected zone which was formed by the excess heat of the welding process as fractures often occurred at such locations. Based on experimental findings and fractographic observations, a clear adverse effect of welding process in material behaviour was discovered. Despite the concentrated heat of microplasma arc welding, post-weld heat treatment of the weld area is recommended to improve the mechanical behaviour of the welded joints.
Keywords: fatigue; load controlled; microplasma arc welding; titanium alloy.