Degradation behavior of metastable β Ti-15-3 alloy for fastener applications

Abstract Environmentally induced degradation is a serious issue governing the use of titanium alloy fasteners for marine applications. The workhorse alloy Ti6Al4V which has been the most used titanium alloy till date as fastener material has its limitations and search has been on for improved titanium-based materials. This paper deals with researches aimed at evaluating the metastable beta titanium alloy Ti15V3Cr3Al3Sn (Ti15-3) in solution annealed condition as a fastener material for medium strength applications. A variety of tests was carried out to rate the resistance of the alloy in this condition to seawater environments slow strain rate testing (SSRT), crevice corrosion testing, potentiodynamic polarization studies, and immersion testing. Limited SSRT was also done on Ti6Al4V for the sake of comparison. Analysis of test results shows that solution annealed Ti15-3 offers itself as a good candidate material for medium strength fastener applications in marine environments.