Fatigue strength of notched specimens made of Ti-6Al-4V produced by Selected Laser Melting technique

As an Additive Manufacturing (AM) method, Selective Laser Melting (SLM) allows fabrication of metallic components of any desired geometry with densities greater than 99.5%. This method is usually used for geometrically optimized components with complex geometries including various kinds of notches. Hence, it is important to have a clear information about the fatigue behavior of notched components made by SLM method. This paper evaluates the fatigue behavior of Ti-6Al-4V blunt V-notched and circular notched samples produced by SLM. The fatigue results were then compared with those of the corresponding smooth samples. The fracture surfaces of the tested samples were evaluated using Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM) and the crack initiation points and fracture mechanisms were identified.