Browsing by Subject "Aluminum alloy"

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Failure of laterally crushed aluminum tubes under combined bending and tension
(2010-08) Giagmouris, Theofilos; Kyriakides, S.; Liechti, Kenneth M.
This thesis is concerned with the accurate numerical simulation of localized deformation that can develop into necking and failure, induced by combined bending and tension in aluminum alloy shell structures. The study is motivated by the need to establish the onset and evolution of such failures in imploding underwater cylindrical aluminum alloy shell structures. However, failure under combined bending and tension is also of concern in sheet metal forming. Such localized zones of deformation are shown to develop under controlled conditions in specially designed crushing experiments of Al-6061-T6 cylindrical shells. In these experiments shells of finite length and radially constrained ends are crushed laterally by rigid punches. The crushing, which is conducted under displacement control, causes the shell to develop bending and stretching stresses that lead to arcs of localized wall thinning to appear near the radially constrained locations. The local wall thinning develops into depressions with a width of the order of the shell wall thickness. As crushing progresses the depressions deepen, increase their span, become neck-like and develop inclined failures. The crushing was terminated when the first of four such depressions ruptured. After unloading, the shell was sliced along the principal plane of crushing and the most deformed cross sections of the necks were measured using an optical microscope. The crushing experiments were simulated numerically using solid FE models. The material was modeled as a finitely deforming elastic-plastic solid that hardens isotropically using three constitutive models: the first is based on the von Mises yield function, the second on the non-quadratic isotropic Hosford yield function and the third on the anisotropic Yld04-3D yield function. The models were calibrated to the same stress-strain response and to data from a set of radial biaxial experiments conducted on the same alloy tubes. The overall structural response was reproduced well by all models. Apparently such global responses smear out local differences introduced by the shape of the yield function adopted. However, differences between the three constitutive models were observed in the evolution of localization in the depressions. For the von Mises yield function, the localized deformation was significantly milder than in the experiments. The isotropic Hosford yield function produced necks that were closer to the experimental ones, while Yld04-3D produced results that were very close to the measurements. Clearly, and in concert with other applications, the adoption of a non-quadratic yield function is necessary for reproduction of localization and other challenging deformation histories in Al alloys. The addition of anisotropy in such models improves further the predictions. The results also demonstrated that accurate simulation of the evolution of the depressions in the presence of normal contact stresses requires the use of solid elements. Localization is clearly a three-dimensional phenomenon and shell elements reproduce most of the structural response well, but not the depressions and their evolution that eventually cause failure.
On the ductile failure of thin-walled aluminum alloy tubes under combined shear and tension
(2012-12) Haltom, Scott Sumner; Kyriakides, S.; Ravi-Chandar, Krishnaswamy
The aim of this thesis is to establish the extent to which materials can be deformed under shear-dominant loadings. Custom Al-6061-T6 tubular specimens are loaded under radial and corner paths of tension and shear to failure. During the experiments, the deformation is monitored in a test section designed to have nearly uniform stress and deformation at large strains while providing minimum constraint to the development of localization that precedes failure. The recorded shear stress-rotation and axial stress-displacement responses exhibit maxima beyond which deformation localizes in a narrow band that is of the order of the 1 mm wall thickness of the test section. For the mainly shear dominated stress paths followed, deformation remained nearly planar allowing for the establishment of both the true stresses and the local deformation strictly from measurements. Results from thirteen radial path experiments as well as from four corner path experiments show the strain at failure to monotonically increase as the mean stress decreases, a result that is in contrast with previously reported results for Al alloys. Also, the measured failure strains are significantly larger than previously reported values. Analysis of corner stress paths investigates the path dependence of localization and failure. Results show little path dependence on the failure strains, but some path dependence on stress maxima and failure stresses. Furthermore, statistical grain-level strain estimates from five of the stress paths revealed a significant variation in strain across the macroscopically observed localization zone. In the neighborhood of the crack tip strains with 25-100% higher levels than the macroscopic values were recorded. This indicates that localization also occurs at a smaller scale than hitherto understood. The difference between the macro strain at failure and the average grain level values increased as the axial/shear stress ratio increased.