Cold-Cracking Assessment in AA7050 Billets during Direct-Chill Casting by Thermomechanical Simulation of Residual Thermal Stresses and Application of Fracture Mechanics

Abstract

Thermally induced strains and stresses developed during direct-chill (DC) semicontinuous casting of high strength aluminum alloys can result in formation of micro-cracks in different locations of the billet. Rapid propagation of such micro-cracks in tensile thermal stress fields can lead to catastrophic failure of ingots in the solid state called cold cracking. Numerical models can simulate the thermomechanical behavior of an ingot during casting and after solidification and reveal the critical cooling conditions that result in catastrophic failure, provided that the constitutive parameters of the material represent genuine as-cast properties. Application of fracture mechanics, on the other hand, can help to derive the critical crack length leading to failure. In the present research work, the state of residual thermal stresses was determined in an AA7050 billet during DC casting by means of ALSIM5. Simulation results showed that in the steady-state conditions, large compressive stresses form near the surface of the billet in the circumferential direction, whereas in the center, the stresses are tensile in all directions. Magnitudes of von Mises effective stresses, the largest component of principal stresses and the fracture mechanics concepts, were then applied to investigate the crack susceptibility of the billet.