Modelling and Simulation on Behaviours of Aluminium Alloys

Abstract

AbstractAluminium alloys are commonly used structural materials for civil and mechanical engineering applications due to high strength to density ratio, corrosion resistance, vibrational stability, recyclability and good formability. The knowledge of mechanical behaviours of these alloys at different strain rates is necessary for safe and optimum design of a crashworthy structure. In this paper, numerical analysis on the deformation behaviours of two aluminium alloys (AA6063-T6 and Al5052-H32) is presented under tension, compression and flexure/three-point bending using ANSYS. The tensile (5–780 s−1) and compressive (110–850 s−1) behaviour of AA6063-T6 alloy and the flexural behaviour (at crosshead velocity 100 mm/s) of Al5052-H32 alloy are simulated using explicit dynamics approach in ANSYS. Johnson–Cook model is used in the numerical simulations to define the nonlinear characteristics of the alloys. The above finite element analysis can help the design engineer to detect the system response (stress, strain, etc.) during the design process and incorporate the design changes before construction of possible prototypes. The simulation results are in good agreement with the analytical results of J–C model and also with the experimental results available in literature.KeywordsAluminium alloysStrain ratesJohnson–Cook modelNumerical simulationANSYS explicit dynamics