Short crack growth model for the evaluation of the fatigue strength of WAAM Ti-6Al-4V alloy containing pore-type defects

The role of defects in the fatigue strength of Wire Arc Additively Manufactured (WAAMed) Ti6Al-4V is analysed by means of the IBESS model, a fracture mechanics short crack growth approach based on the cyclic R-curve. Pores and crack-like defects are analysed. Estimations of the role of pore shape and size agree well with published fatigue data of WAAM Ti-6Al-4V with pores. The model is also used to explain the effect of fabrication defects on the scatter of experimental data. This demonstrates that short crack growth models represent a suitable engineering tool for the fatigue assessment of defective AM materials.