Abstract
In the present work, the tensile and fracture behavior of ultra-fine grained (UFG) Al 6061 alloy was simulated using extended finite element method (XFEM). UFG Al 6061 alloy processed by cryorolling (CR) and accumulative roll bonding (ARB) was investigated in this work. Numerical simulations of two-dimensional and three-dimensional models were performed in “Abaqus 6.14” software using an elastic-plastic approach, and the results obtained were validated with the experimental results. The specimens corresponding to the three-point bend test, compact tension test with center crack, and double edge cracks were analyzed using XFEM (eXtended Finite Element Method) approach. In XFEM, the partition of unity (PU) was used to model a crack in the standard finite element mesh. The tensile and fracture properties obtained from the simulation were in tandem with the experimental data. UFG Al alloy showed higher tensile strength and fracture toughness compared to their bulk solution treated counterparts. Fracture toughness was measured in terms of stress intensity factor and J integral. In CR Al alloys, with increasing thickness reduction, an increase in stress intensity factor and a decrease in the J integral was observed. This behavior is attributed to the increase in strength and decrease in ductility of CR samples with increasing thickness reduction. In ARB Al alloys, the strength and ductility have increased with an increase in number of cycles. It also revealed an increase in both the stress intensity factor and J integral in ARB processed Al alloys with increase in number of cycles, as evident from XFEM simulation results.
Highlights
Aluminum alloys are the second most widely used engineering metal after steel [1].These alloys are used as structural components in a various industries such as the automotive, aerospace industry [2,3]
When the model is loaded, uniform stress distribution can be seen throughout the gauge length; when necking starts, the stress becomes concentrated in the necking zone
Experimental data on Tensile and fracture toughness were taken from the literature and our earlier work were used to validate the simulation results
Summary
Aluminum alloys are the second most widely used engineering metal after steel [1] These alloys are used as structural components in a various industries such as the automotive, aerospace industry [2,3]. Al 6061 alloy is a precipitation-hardenable alloy, which provides a combination of high specific strength, tensile, fracture toughness, good workability, and high corrosion resistance [4]. It is one of the most widely used Al alloys; its application ranges from aircraft fitting and structure such as fuselage and wings in the aerospace industry to brake pistons, hydraulic pistons, chassis (Audi A8) in the automotive industry, and various daily use products such as bike frames, beverage cans, camera lens mounts, etc. Fine-grained microstructure in UFG material leads to higher strength as a consequence of the “Hall–Petch equation”
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