Materials Science & Engineering A 755 (2019) 1–9

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Materials Science & Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Fatigue life and microstructure of additive manufactured Ti6Al4V after T

different finishing processes
L. Dentia, E. Bassolia, A. Gattoa, E. Santecchiab, P. Menguccib,∗
a
Dipartimento di Ingegneria “Enzo Ferrari”, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi, Modena, Italy
b
Dipartimento SIMAU, Università Politecnica Delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131, Ancona, Italy

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Finishing methods of additive manufactured metal parts are becoming a key driver of industrial viability, in-
Surface finishing creasingly with additive processes being challenged in demanding end-product applications. The same scenario
Ti alloys stresses the requirements as to fatigue life of parts built by Additive Manufacturing (AsM).
Fatigue life The paper addresses fatigue life of Ti6Al4V produced by Powder Bed Fusion in four finishing conditions: as-
Additive manufacturing
built, tool machined, after tumbling and after tumbling and subsequent shot-peening. Failure mechanisms at the
X-ray diffraction
Electron microscopy
micro-scale are observed in order to reinforce the mechanical results by identifying the role of different surface
morphologies in crack initiation. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques and
microanalysis (EDX) are used to investigate microstructural modifications generated by the different finishing
methods.
Results show that tumbling alone does not improve fatigue life against the as built condition, whereas
tumbling and subsequent shot peening allow matching the fatigue endurance of tool machined specimens. The
shot peening process causes surface amorphization and implantation of the peening media turning into sub-
surface inclusions. Based on the results, an optimized finishing process can be envisaged, consisting in prolonged
tumbling up to the removal of a stock allowance at least equal to the powder size, before shot peening.

1. Introduction
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) is an additive manufacturing process
which is increasingly driving attention of political and research com-
munities, as its application fields are spreading at a rate that has no
equal in western countries. PBF is opening new technological oppor-
tunities for high-end products because of its huge technological ad-
vantages, such as design ground-breaking freedom, allowing extremely
lightweight components with novel and integrated functionalities, fast
production without tooling finishing, high flexibility, and no costs for
tooling investment [1].
It is a shared opinion that the rushed diffusion requires joint effort
of scientific community to understand, control, standardize materials
and processes to mitigate risks (and costs) of such an industrial re-
volution. A qualitative leap is required in understanding and control
micro-mechanisms that often compromise long-term reliability of
components. In order to meet the automotive, aerospace and defence
requirements more efforts are needed from the research side. Airworthy
PBF components require a thorough knowledge of the mechanical be-
havior, static as well as dynamic [2].
Titanium alloys are certainly the most used and extensively in-
vestigated, as their construction by layer manufacturing immediately
turned out as a strategic business opportunity. It is not surprising,
therefore, that ASTM F2924 (Specification for AM Titanium-6
Aluminum-4 Vanadium with Powder Bed Fusion) came out in 2012 as
the first answer to standardization needs common to the additive
manufacturing (AM) industry [3,4]. It represents a clear attempt to
bring some order, define a shared practice, and provide accountability
tools, to the field of PBF. All these needs cannot be postponed if PBF
claims to emerge as competitive industrial process.
In prosthetic and medical fields, as well as in aerospace, additive
processes using Ti6Al4V find full capitalization of their distinctive
features, chiefly compliance to complex geometries, low volumes and
strong individualization [5]. In addition to specific product categories,
a noteworthy field of success for PBF is the manufacturing of parts-on-
demand, with great logistic ease [6,7]. In aircraft industry many players
are considering AM as an opportunity to reduce warehousing and
produce spare parts at time and place they are needed. For PBF tech-
niques, aerospace is just a market as big as the implants and prostheses
one.

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: p.mengucci@univpm.it (P. Mengucci).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2019.03.119
Received 4 March 2019; Received in revised form 27 March 2019; Accepted 28 March 2019
Available online 01 April 2019
0921-5093/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
L. Denti, et al.
Recently, PBF technology has accomplished the goal of mechanical
properties often equal to, or even better than those obtained by tradi-
tional processes [8]. Conversely, concerns are moving to part relia-
bility, focusing research efforts on fatigue life studies as well as on risk
factors capable of cutting them down [6]. In general, AM generates
highly distinctive microstructure, totally dissimilar from that observed
elsewhere [9,10], that turns into an urgent need for better knowledge of
expected performances. Difficulties in predicting part characteristics to
ensure robustness and repeatability are still major limitations.
The success of AM is strictly connected to the possibility of trans-
lating complex and new shapes into real products. The proper manu-
facturing of Ti-based components produced by the AM technique
usually need specific design and optimization, because AM focuses on
customized parts or low volume production [11,12].
The mechanical performances of Ti-based parts produced by AM are
strongly affected by thermal history and material properties [13,14].
Thermal effects are of particular relevance in AM because the technique
involves local rapid heating and cooling cycles that lead to skin effect
and development of unexpected microstructure in the final product
[15]. Furthermore, high temperature gradients and high cooling rate
induce thermal stresses, segregation phenomena and formation of non-
equilibrium phases. The non-equilibrium phenomena depend on laser
parameters, material properties and environmental conditions [16–18].
The mechanical behavior of parts produced by additive manu-
facturing techniques have been extensively studied [19–22], and a
number of authors have investigated methods to improve the fatigue
life of final products [23,24]. Moreover, influence of post-processing
and finishing processes on fatigue life has been also deeply investigated
[25–28]. Several papers have demonstrated that post-processing treat-
ments are capable of greatly improving mechanical performances as
well as fatigue life of additively manufactured products, mainly attri-
buting this effect to internal defects [29] and surface roughness
[30–32].
The present paper reports on the mechanical behavior of Ti6Al4V
alloy with α+β microstructure produced by powder bed fusion (PBF)
and post-processed by different surface finishing treatments. Fatigue
life of as built (AS), tumbled (T), tumbled plus shot peened (TS) samples
have been compared to study the structural mechanisms responsible of
the improved mechanical properties. Results have shown that the fa-
tigue behavior of alloy is independent on surface roughness, while
being strongly influenced by the post-production finishing treatment.
The combined tumbling and shot peening processes increase up to
150% the value of infinite fatigue life maximum force of the material.
This effect is discussed in terms of surface amorphization and defects
reduction induced by the shot peening treatment.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Material production and properties
Samples for tensile and fatigue tests were built from EOS Titanium
Ti64 (EOS GmbH - Electro Optical Systems) powder by using EOS M270
machine operated with standard parameters: laser scan speed
1250 mm/s, laser power 340 W, hatch distance 0.12 mm, layer thick-
ness 30 μm. All specimens were built along Z axis, i.e. parallel to the
growth direction. Nominal compositional range (wt.%) of Ti64 powder
provided by manufacturer is reported in Table 1.
Table 1
Nominal powder composition (wt.%).
Al V Ti O Fe C
5.50–6.75 3.50–4.50 Bal. 0.2 max 0.30 max 0.08 max
2
Materials Science & Engineering A 755 (2019) 1–9
2.2. Surface finishing processes
In order to evaluate influence of post-processed surface finishing
treatments on mechanical properties, four different sets of samples were
produced, namely: Tool Machined (TM), As Built (AB), Tumbled (T),
Tumbled and Shot-peened (TS).
Tool machined (TM) specimens were turned with cutting speed of
20 m/min, feed rate 0.07 mm/rev.
The As Built (AB) set of samples, not submitted to any surface fin-
ishing treatment, is the reference condition.
The Tumbling process (T) was carried out by standard procedure for
titanium alloys with ceramic media. A set of samples (named TS)
among the Tumbled (T) treated specimens was submitted to shot-pe-
ening by using corundum (Al2O3) particles (size in the range
70 μm–140 μm) in compressed air at ∼ 50 psi (∼340 kPa) for 30 s.
2.3. Roughness measurement
Surface roughness was measured in accordance to DIN EN ISO
4287/4288 and DIN EN ISO 25178. A Nikon LV 150 Confovis
Microscope was used to assess the surface topography with the fol-
lowing configuration:
• 20× microscopic objective;
• 0.595 μm lateral resolution, 10 nm vertical quantization and auto-
matic field stitching;
• 500 × 1200 μm scanned area.
2
A FALS filter (according to ISO 16610–62), cut off 8 μm × 8 μm, and
bilateral symmetric threshold filtering (for the removal of spikes) were
applied to the maps for form removal.
The 3D average surface roughness (Sa) was calculated on the maps.
Surface homogeneity was checked in advance to validate the operation.
Sa provides a comprehensive measurement of the surface morphology.
Surface Skewness (Ssk) and Surface Kurtosis (Sku) was also calculated.
Ssk describes the asymmetry of peaks/valleys to the median plane. At
Ssk = 0, surface peaks and valleys are symmetrically distributed. With
Ssk < 0 valleys are predominant, while Ssk > 0 indicates surface pre-
ferentially formed of peaks. Sku is associated to the peak/valley
sharpness. High Sku values (> 3) are typical of very sharp peaks. The
Abbott-Firestone curve obtained from roughness measurements allows
identifying peak height (Spk) and valley depth (Svk) at the same time.
2.4. Tensile and fatigue testing
According to UNI EN 6892-1 standard tensile tests have been per-
formed on cylindrical specimens, dimeter 4 m, gauge length 25 mm.
Details of sample geometry for tensile tests are shown in Fig. 1a. An
Instron 5567 machine equipped with 30 kN load cell and extensometer
Instron 2630, gauge length 25 mm, was used for tensile tests. Test speed
was set at 2 mm/min.
Axial fatigue tests with constant amplitude (origin, R = 0) were
performed according to UNI EN 3987: 2010 (Aerospace Series - Metal
Test Methods - High Fatigue Test with Constant Amplitude Force
Application) considering infinite lifetime limit 6·106 cycles. The S-N
curves were obtained following UNI EN 3987: 2010 procedure speci-
fications for stress increments/diminutions. Schematics of samples for
axial fatigue tests are shown in Fig. 1b.
Before testing, tensile specimens were tool machined, while fatigue
specimens were tested in the different surface finishing conditions.
After fatigue tests the fracture surface of samples was observed by
scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
2.5. XRD and SEM characterization
Structural characterization of samples with different surface
L. Denti, et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 755 (2019) 1–9

Fig. 1. Geometry and size of tensile a) and axial fatigue test b) specimens (unit: mm).

finishing was performed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron

Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX).
A Bruker D8 Advance X-ray diffractometer equipped with θ-θ go-
niometer was used for XRD analysis by Cu-Kα radiation. Measurements
in Bragg-Brentano geometry in the angular range 2θ = 30–80° were
performed to obtain information on crystallography and lattice para-
meters of Ti64 samples. For each sample, XRD pattern at gauge section
and at specimen shoulder was recorded. XRD analysis at gauge section
was carried out without any treatment of the investigated zone. On the
contrary, before XRD analysis, specimen shoulder was prepared by
grinding papers to obtain a flat surface. This latter treatment was made
to avoid angular shift of diffracted peaks due to sample curvature.
Therefore, XRD pattern taken at the flat surface of sample shoulder was
considered as representative of microstructural properties of the ma-
terial bulk. Consequently, the lattice parameters of Ti phases present in
the samples were determined by peak analysis of XRD patterns taken at
shoulder. XRD investigation of tensile samples was performed on spe-
cimens not submitted to mechanical testing.
SEM observations were carried out by a Zeiss Supra 40 field-emis-
sion electron microscope equipped with Bruker Z200 microanalysis for Fig. 2. XRD pattern at shoulder of sample AB, considered as reference for all
quantitative EDX investigation. samples.
EDX quantitative chemical composition of alloy was obtained by
averaging five measurements carried out in scanning mode on large
aβ = 0.3222 ± 0.0001 nm.
areas of sample shoulder.
Compared to reference values reported in the International Centre
for Diffraction Data (ICDD) files, the experimental values are always
3. Results and discussion smaller. In particular, for the hcp α-Ti phase (ICDD file n. 44–1294)
experimental lattice parameters aα and cα are about 0.6% and 0.14%
The XRD patterns taken at shoulder of AB, T and TS samples, as well lower than reference values, respectively, resulting in a crystallographic
as the XRD pattern taken on the TM sample, show same appearance. cell volume about 1.3% smaller. For the bcc β-Ti phase (ICDD file n.
Fig. 2 reports XRD pattern at shoulder of the AB sample, re- 44–1288) difference with reference is even more pronounced, lattice
presentative of all other samples. The simultaneous presence of hcp α- parameter aβ is about 2.6% smaller, resulting in a crystallographic cell
Ti and bcc β-Ti phases is evident. Determination of exact angular peak volume reduction of about 7.5%.
position allowed calculation of lattice parameters of both phases. Ex- The XRD patterns taken at gauge section of samples are reported in
perimental results provided the following values: Fig. 3. In order to facilitate comparison between samples, XRD patterns
aα = 0.29327 ± 0.00014 nm, cα = 0.4676 ± 0.0003 nm and

3
L. Denti, et al.
Fig. 3. XRD patterns at the gauge section of samples. Patterns are vertically
shifted for sake of comparison. Inset shows XRD pattern of TS in the angular
range 2θ = 34°–43° measured for longer time to improve signal/noise ratio for
peak shape analysis.
in Fig. 3 are vertically translated.
In Fig. 3, sequence of diffracted peaks as well as angular peak po-
sition are almost unchanged with respect to the XRD pattern in Fig. 2,
suggesting that lattice parameters of α-Ti and β-Ti phases, and conse-
quently the crystal lattice of bulk material, are not particularly influ-
enced by surface treatment performed on specimens after production.
However, all patterns in Fig. 3 show strong reduction in peak in-
tensity, resulting in low signal/noise ratio and increase in peak width.
Lowering in signal/noise ratio results in peak shape deformation, which
makes difficult peak analysis for quantitative information. In order to
obtained reliable results, peak shape analysis was carried out on XRD
patterns limited to the angular range 2θ = 34°–43° measured for longer
time to increase signal/noise ratio. Inset in Fig. 3 shows XRD pattern of
TS used for peak shape analysis, where peak fit (blue dashed lines) and
peak envelope (red continuous line) calculated by Origin [33] analysis
software package is reported. It is worth to note that XRD pattern with
higher signal/noise ratio (inset in Fig. 3) shows well-defined peaks
contrary to extended angular range (2θ = 30°–80°) pattern where the
same peak sometimes appears broadened and split. Therefore, for each
sample, peak shape analysis was carried out on reduced angular range
pattern measured exactly in the same conditions to obtain accurate
peak angular position and width.
As a measure of peak width, full width at half maximum (FWHM)
was considered. Results of peak shape analysis performed on three main
peaks of the hcp α-Ti phase are reported in Table 2 in terms of peak
angular position (2θ) and FWHM, as provided by Origin software
package [33].
Reduction in peak intensity and increase in peak broadening,
measured by FWHM, indicates reduction in material crystallinity, with
a general trend to material amorphization.
Table 2
Experimental full width at half maximum (FWHM) values obtained from peak analysis of XRD patterns at gauge measured in the reduced angular range
(2θ = 34°–43°). Experimental values at shoulder of reference sample AB (column “Shoulder”) are reported for comparison.
Miller indices AB T TS
2θ (deg) FWHM (deg) 2θ (deg) FWHM (deg)
(10-10) 35.34 ± 0.02 0.42 ± 0.06 35.380 ± 0.009 0.23 ± 0.03
(0002) 38.426 ± 0.007 0.20 ± 0.02 38.45 ± 0.01 0.24 ± 0.03
(10–11) 40.402 ± 0.002 0.193 ± 0.005 40.435 ± 0.002 0.219 ± 0.005
4
Materials Science & Engineering A 755 (2019) 1–9
In Table 2 angular position and FWHM values of the reference
sample AB (column “Shoulder”) are reported for comparison.
Although only slight variation in peak position can be noted in
Table 2, it must be emphasized absence of any general trend suggesting
possible stress residual effects due to surface finishing treatments. Pa-
pers in literature report formation of surface compressive layers as a
consequence of surface finishing treatments capable of deeply mod-
ifying the mechanical response of the material. In particular, the im-
proved fatigue behavior of Ti-based alloys submitted to surface fin-
ishing treatments have been often attributed to the presence of a
compressive surface layer which produces shift of XRD peaks towards
higher angular values [29]. On the contrary, in our case the main effect
of surface treatments is an evident variation of the FWHM values.
The AB sample, not submitted to any surface treatment, shows
FWHM values at gauge (column AB in Table 2) in close agreement to
the bulk, except for the (10-10) peak whose value is almost doubled.
This latter effect suggests orientation phenomena occurring at the
atomic scale during sample growth in the additive manufacturing
process.
The tumbling process that removes surface material down to the
bulk shows FWHM values (column T in Table 2) in complete agreement
to the bulk, confirming such removing mechanism.
The most evident deviations from bulk values in Table 2 are re-
ported in column TS, corresponding to sample submitted to the com-
bined tumbling and shot-peening processes. All FWHM values of the TS
specimen are almost doubled with respect to bulk indicating a strong
tendency of the shot-peening treatment to surface amorphization.
EDX analysis on large areas of samples taken at shoulder provided
the following experimental values for Ti64 alloy composition (in wt.%):
Al = 5.8 ± 0.3, V = 3.16 ± 0.13, Ti balance. Results are average of
five different measurements performed on each sample, with corre-
sponding standard deviation. EDX experimental results provide alumi-
nium (Al) content in the nominal range, while vanadium (V) content is
slightly lower (Table 1). Loss of vanadium during additive manu-
facturing processes has been already reported in literature [10].
EDX analysis at gauge does not show any compositional variation
respect to shoulder. Surface treatments carried out on different speci-
mens do not affect the material chemical composition.
SEM observations evidenced differences in surface morphology of
samples. Results are summarised in Fig. 4.
The as-built material (AB) has rough surface formed of spherical
particles, with size ranging from 5 μm to 50 μm, dispersed on a compact
metal base which constitutes bulk material, Fig. 4a.
The sample surface after tumbling (T) is reported in Fig. 4b. In this
case, surface shows small fraction of flat regions with limited extension,
while the original structure formed of spherical-shaped particles is still
recognisable.
After tumbling and shot-peening (Fig. 4c), spherical particles pre-
viously visible on the surface of AB (Fig. 4a) are completely dis-
appeared. Surface of TS consists of large and extended flat compact
regions with grooves and holes, Fig. 4c. Furthermore, several spherical-
shaped particles, average size 5 μm, preferentially located in corre-
spondence of holes or damaged zones of the surface can be observed at
higher magnification. Fig. 4d shows a damaged surface region of the TS
sample where two spherical-shaped particles are evidenced by arrows.
Shoulder
2θ (deg) FWHM (deg) 2θ (deg) FWHM (deg)
35.14 ± 0.03 0.48 ± 0.09 35.279 ± 0.004 0.22 ± 0.01
38.45 ± 0.01 0.46 ± 0.03 38.447 ± 0.002 0.268 ± 0.007
40.253 ± 0.006 0.55 ± 0.02 40.3581 ± 0.0006 0.253 ± 0.002
L. Denti, et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 755 (2019) 1–9

Fig. 4. SEM images of specimen gauge section: a) AB, b) T, c) TS, d) TS at higher magnification with corundum (Al2O3) particles evidenced by arrows.

EDX analysis in spot mode on the spherical-shaped particle evidenced Dynamic fatigue tests show that T does not reach infinite life even at
high concentration of Al and substantial increase of oxygen, not con- 200 MPa, rather it breaks under 106 cycles. On the contrary, AB and TS
sistent with material composition. Therefore, the Al-rich particles im- reach infinite life at 200 MPa and 500 MPa, respectively. TM reaches
planted in the surface of sample TS has an external origin, due to the infinite life at 500 MPa. From these results one can conclude that TS
shot-peening media, that is corundum (Al2O3). increases infinite fatigue life maximum stress of about 150% against the
Material removal by the tumbling treatment followed by subsequent reference AB, resulting similar to TM. However, above 500 MPa TM
surface amorphization of the shot-peening process strongly influence shows higher fatigue cycle values (> 106 cycles) than TS.
surface morphology and crystallography of TS, reducing porosity and Fracture analysis by SEM observation was performed on AB, T and
lack of fusion defects (LOF), that are the typical initiating defects for TS samples broken after few fatigue cycles (about 104) to check possible
crack growth and propagation in additively manufactured parts [34]. presence of inner defects responsible of early break. On the contrary,
Quantitative results of roughness measurements are shown in for the TM condition, only broken samples at infinite life were ob-
Table 3, while roughness maps are reported in Fig. 5. served.
As evidenced in Table 3, Sa varies with surface treatment from Fig. 7 reports fracture surfaces of samples. All images show the
Sa = 21.5 μm for AB to 4.83 μm for TS. Values obtained for AB are crack start spreading point, and different cracking mechanisms can be
considered as reference. The tumbling (T) process slightly decreases Sa, identified.
changes skewness (Ssk) from positive to negative and decreases Kur- Fracture surfaces of TM in Fig. 7a and b shows rupture starting in
tosis (Sku). The TS process strongly decreases Sa and Ssk, and increases correspondence of a hole or melting failure, which is a weaker point.
Sku. The tool machined (TM) specimen, as expected, has very low In the machining process the tool machine removes surface layers
surface roughness (low values of Sa, Spk and Svk in Table 3) and ne- down to the bulk, so reducing or eliminating surface cracks. This action
gative Ssk. makes the fatigue failure mechanism of TM different from the other
Fig. 5 show roughness maps of samples where the turning action in samples, justifying the maximum stress at infinite fatigue life similar to
TM is recognisable as well as the finishing action of corresponding post- TS and the results of dynamic fatigue test at higher stress values
production process for T and TS samples when compared to the re- (Fig. 6).
ference (AB). In AB (Fig. 7c and d), T (Fig. 7e and f) and TS (Fig. 7g and h)
Results of the static tensile tests performed according to the UNI EN samples, no peculiar defects such as holes or material contamination
6892-1 standard are reported in Table 4, while results of dynamic fa- are visible, fracture takes origin from a surface microcrack.
tigue test are summarised in Table 5 and Fig. 6. The tumbling process (T) simply cuts powder particles adhered to
Tensile tests (Table 4) evidenced static mechanical behavior of the the surface, without any removing action of cracks on bulk surface.
investigated material in complete agreement with literature data for However, vibrations during the tumbling process tend to enlarge the
additively manufactured Ti64 alloy. unremoved surface cracks, giving rise to maximum stress at infinite life
lower than TS.
In Fig. 7h (TS) the SEM image shows a darker area near the surface.
Table 3 EDX analysis of the dark area provided an Al2O3 (corundum) compo-
Results of roughness measurements. sition. This further confirms that Al2O3 particles, used as abrasive in the
TM AB T TS shot peening process, tend to implant on the sample surface during the
surface treatment, preferentially filling empty spaces between bulk and
Sa [μm] 0.227 21.5 18.9 4.83
partially melted powder particles adhered to the surface, that were not
Ssk −0.255 0.553 −0.414 −1.6
Sku 2.70 2.81 1.94 5.69 completely removed by the tumbling treatment.
Spk [μm] 0.115 9.76 6.37 1.76 Shot-peening process modifies material surface giving rise to higher
Svk [μm] 0.227 11.9 9.99 3.28 fatigue resistance. However, it is not able to change mechanisms of

5
L. Denti, et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 755 (2019) 1–9

Fig. 5. Roughness maps.

crack initiation and propagation, that are identical to those observed in
AB and T samples.
Mechanisms responsible of fatigue failure involve initiating defects,
typically porosity and LOF, as well as crack growth and propagation
[34,35]. Results obtained on AB, T and TS samples showed substantial
identical mechanism of crack initiation and propagation although their
surface crystallography and roughness are deeply different. However,
TS sample shows a marked higher fatigue resistance respect all other
samples. Bagehorn et al. [35] report improvement in the fatigue per-
formances of blasted Ti64 produced by additive manufacturing, mostly

6
L. Denti, et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 755 (2019) 1–9

Table 4 a) reduces the number of defects on sample surface, that are responsible
Results of static tensile tests performed according to the UNI EN 6892-1 stan- of crack initiation and b) produces surface amorphization, that hinders
dard. crack propagation along preferential crystallographic directions.
Average value S. D. Double action of the shot-peening process causes marked improvements
in the fatigue behavior of additively manufactured samples.
UTS[MPa] 1170 24
Rp0.2% [MPa] 1122 32
εb [%] 10.9 1.4
4. Conclusions
E [GPa] 121 8

Fatigue life of Ti6Al4V alloy produced by Powder Bed Fusion, post-

Table 5
processed by four finishing surface treatments has been investigated.
Results of dynamic fatigue tests. Tool machined (TM), as-built (AS), after tumbling (T) and after tum-
bling and shot-peening (TS) samples have been submitted to mechan-
Maximum stress [MPa] Cycles to failure
ical tests, surface roughness measurements, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)
TM AB T TS analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observations and Energy
Dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), in order to correlate the im-
640 3.3·106 proved mechanical behavior to the microstructural modifications in-
600 1.8·106 – – 2.4·104
duced by the finishing treatments.
500 Infinite life – – Infinite life
400 Infinite life 2.6·104 2.4·104 Infinite life The main results obtained can be summarised as follows:
350 6.2·104 – –
300 1·105
Infinite lifea
1.6·105
4.5·105
–
–
• AB has α+β microstructure with lattice parameters smaller than
200 reference values reported in the ICDD files. Lattice parameters
a variation corresponds to 1.3% reduction of crystallographic cell
Test replicated.
volume of the α-Ti phase and 7.5% reduction for cell volume of the
β-Ti phase. Differences in lattice parameters of Ti alloy can be as-
ascribing this effect to internal stresses as a consequence of the blasting
cribed to the PBF production technique;
•
process. However, it is well known from literature that the shot-peening
T has fatigue life comparable to AB with bulk microstructure sub-
treatment tends to induce surface compressive stresses that improve
stantially unchanged, even though the finishing treatment modifies
fatigue behavior of metal alloys [36,37]. Recently, Liu et al. [38] have
surface morphology;
•
induced surface severe plastic deformation (SSPD) in Ti64 alloy by an
TS has fatigue life improved of 150% respect to AB. Surface
innovative thermomechanical process called laser-assisted ultrasonic
roughness measurements and SEM observations evidence strong
nanocrystal surface modification (LA-UNSM) which produces both
modifications of surface topography, while EDX analyses allowed
surface microstructure modifications and work hardening effects cap-
detecting particles of Al2O3 (used in the shot-peening process) on
able of significantly improve mechanical properties.
the surface;
•
In our case, XRD investigation of TS suggests surface amorphization
XRD analyses evidenced surface amorphization of the TS sample.
without or negligible residual stresses. On the other hand, it is well
known the role of surface morphology and defects on the fatigue be-
Results have clearly shown that mechanisms of crack initiation are
havior of additively manufactured Ti64 parts [28,34–38].
the same independently on surface finishing treatment. However, crack
Results obtained in the present work indicate that fatigue resistance
propagation responsible of subsequent sample failure strongly depends
is not exclusively dependent on surface roughness, it mainly depends on
on surface crystallinity. The shot-peening process reduces number of
surface defects (LOF and/or porosity), whose mechanical behavior
surface defects and induces surface amorphization which inhibits crack
during fatigue is influenced by crystallinity of surface and subsurface
propagation along preferential crystallographic directions, resulting in
regions.
an improved fatigue life. Therefore, an optimized finishing treatment
Therefore, based on the results obtained one can conclude that the
consists in prolonged tumbling to decrease surface roughness, followed
shot-peening process has a double effect on the surface microstructure:
by shot-peening.

Fig. 6. Wolher diagram.

7
L. Denti, et al.
Fig. 7. SEM images of the crack initiation point on the fracture surface of
samples: a) and b) TM (600 MPa), c) and d) AB (400 MPa), e) and f) T
(400 MPa), g) and h) TS (600 MPa).
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