Effect of Temperature on the Low-Cycle Fatigue Behavior of Polycrystalline TiAl Alloys

In this paper, the low-cycle fatigue deformation behavior of polycrystalline γ-TiAl alloys at different temperatures was investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The results showed that the fatigue process comprises an initial cyclic softening stage followed by saturation, and the stress-strain response of the material shows significant asymmetry. With an increase in temperature, the asymmetry between tensile and compressive stresses gradually decreases, and the amplitude of saturated stress decreases significantly. The decrease in dislocation density leads to the cyclic softening of the alloy, and the evolution of dislocation density is temperature-dependent. The dislocation density first decreases and then tends to be stable, while at 900 °C and 1000 °C, it shows an abnormal trend of decreasing first and then increasing. In addition, microscopic mechanism analysis shows that grain coarsening, dislocation annihilation, and phase instability lead to the cyclic softening of the alloys. The fatigue plastic accumulation at low temperatures is mainly dominated by dislocation slip, while at high temperatures, grain boundary slip gradually replaces dislocation slip and becomes the main deformation mechanism. This work reveals new insights into the mechanical behavior of polycrystalline γ-TiAl alloys under cyclic plasticity and temperature-dependent deformation mechanisms.