Effect of surface modification by ion implantation on the fatigue behavior in metastable β-phase Ti-24V alloy

Fatigue response of ion implanted Ti-24V alloy was studied under strain and stress controlled fatigue conditions. The structural changes by ion implantation were investigated using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Nitrogen and boron implantation resulted in surface regions having a fine titanium nitride and dense titanium boride, respectively. A metastable substitutional solid solution was produced through vanadium implantation. These modifications in surface structure altered the surface deformation modes and crack initiation response and the related fatigue life under strain controlled fatigue conditions. Nitrogen and vanadium implantation resulted in a beneficial effect in strain controlled fatigue. The improvement contributed to enhancement of crack nucleation resistance through strain homogenization for nitrogen implanted surfaces and an increase of slip reversibility for vanadium implanted specimens. The inhomogeneous coarse slip resulting from boron implantation induced early crack initiation under strain controlled conditions and thereby reduced the fatigue life. Under stress controlled fatigue conditions, fatigue life and endurance limit were enhanced following ion implantation with nitrogen, boron, and vanadium