Experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of temperature on mixed-mode fracture behaviour of AM60 Mg alloy

The aim of present paper is to experimentally investigate mixed-mode fracture behaviour of AM60 Mg alloy at low and elevated temperatures. For this purpose, mode I, 45 degrees mixed-mode, and mode II tests were conducted using a modified version of Arcan device at three different temperatures. An elastic-plastic finite element model was used to extract necessary geometric parameters. Crack resistance curves (J-R) and critical J-integral of the material were extracted. The results indicated that, for all loading modes, maximum critical J-integral value was observed at ambient temperature and decreased by either increasing or decreasing the temperature. It was observed that effect of temperature on fracture behaviour is much larger at temperatures above 0 degrees C rather than sub-zero temperatures. By changing the loading angle to go from mode I to mode II, a decreasing trend was observed in the values of critical fracture parameters at all temperatures. Finally, the surfaces were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).