On the mechanism of ductile intergranular fracture in ALMgSI alloys

Abstract

In some recent publications it was proposed that the nucleation of holes in ductile fracture is possible only in the vicinity of hard particles (1,2). It is well accepted that ductile fracture by nucleation and growth of holes is dominated by particles if these are of sufficient size and if their mutual distance is small enough. However, care must be taken if the particles are too small, as for example the hardening precipitates in aluminium alloys. This paper has been written to report on the mechanism of fracture in the precipitate free zone (PFZ) of AlMgSi alloys.