Fracture behavior of the forged aluminum 7075-T6 alloy under mixed-mode loading conditions

This study addressed the formability of Al 7057T6 alloy. The hot forging process was utilized for plastic deformation. Simple tensile tests and fracture tests then tested forged pieces. The fracture tests were carried out for different forging percentages in three loading modes (I, II, and mixed -mode I/II). The specimen and the crack tip were modeled by the finite element method. The studied alloy showed higher resistance against the crack growth under the pure tensile mode than in the shear mode. Higher forging declined the material resistance against crack growth. This declining trend was negligible in mode-I. However, it intensified by an increase in the loading angle; up to a 52% decrease was detected in mode-II. Therefore, extra care should be considered in applying forged Al 7075-T6 alloy under a dominant shear load. Almost similar conditions can be observed on the fracture surface of the samples using SEM images.

Automated summary

This study investigated the formability of Al 7057T6 alloy and the crack growth behavior under different loading modes. It was found that the alloy exhibited higher resistance against crack growth in the pure tensile mode, and this resistance decreased with higher forging percentages. The decline was negligible in mode-I, but intensified in mode-II with an increase in the loading angle.