Parts of vehicles, such as landing gear components of aircrafts, are subject to growing demands in terms of sustainability via lightweight design and durability. To fulfill these requirements, the development of thermochemical processes is auspicious. Titanium alloys allow a heat treatment in hydrogen-containing atmosphere for temporary hydrogen alloying, often called thermohydrogen treatment (THT). The investigation presented intends to realize a local microstructure modification of Ti-6Al-4V by means of THT. The study aims to use hydrogen (H) as a promoter for changing the local distribution and morphology of strengthening precipitates during THT as well as the local grain size (microstructural gradient). Both shall improve the fatigue properties of the material after hydrogen degassing. To derive suitable thermohydrogen treatment process parameters, the resulting fatigue crack propagation resistance and fracture toughness after different solution heat treatments are determined experimentally and compared to each other. Moreover, various graded microstructures are evaluated after hydrogen uptake (hydrogenation) and hydrogen degassing (dehydrogenation) using numerically simulated hydrogen concentration profiles, observed hardness curves, metallographically determined microstructure gradients and the corresponding results of the phase analysis by means of X-ray diffraction. The study shows that hydrogenation at 500 °C and dehydrogenation at 750 °C enables the generation of a promising microstructural gradient.

Technical components should be produced sustainably and are subject to growing demands in terms of durability and reliability. To meet these expectations, the development of thermochemical processes is auspicious. Titanium alloys, which have a comparatively high gas solubility, allow temporary hydrogen (H) loading, often called thermo hydrogen treatment (THT). THT causes lattice deformation and reduces the β transformation temperature. These effects enable an adjustment of the microstructure, which improves the mechanical properties as compared to those produced conventionally. Furthermore, the process is applicable to complex geometries that cannot be surface hardened by mechanical surface treatment techniques. The investigation presented intends to realize a local microstructure gradient in additively via laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF) manufactured cylindrical Ti–6Al–4V specimens by changing the distribution and morphology of strengthening precipitates as well as the β grain size depending on the distance to the surface, which should improve the material fatigue properties. To evaluate the mechanical properties of such THT-induced microstructure gradients, the resulting change in fatigue life in the LCF and HCF range was determined by stress-controlled cyclic deformation tests. Besides, the resulting microstructure was characterized by means of XRD and TEM. In addition to the additively manufactured and thermo hydrogen treated cylindrical specimens, conventionally produced tube-like specimens were thermo hydrogen treated and examined. For the THT-induced microstructure gradients, numerically simulated H concentration profiles as well as experimentally determined hardness profiles were used for the evaluation of the THT process. The study shows that H-loading at 500°C and H-degassing at 750°C, followed by aging at 550°C, allows the establishment of a microstructure gradient that shows an 8% improvement in fatigue properties compared to a reference condition without THT. The reason for this improvement is an increased volume fraction secondary alpha phase in the near-surface area of the specimens. Moreover, the results show that the process is applicable a tube-like specimen with varying wall thicknesses.