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The overall goal of this work-in-progress is to try to establish the fracture locus (i.e. the equivalent strain to fracture as a function of the stress triaxiality factor) for the high-strength AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy. Experiments on several specimen geometries enabled us to reach stress triaxialities in the range from σ* = 0 for shear tests to σ* = 1.4 for notched specimen tensile tests. For shear tests, failure occurred by strong strain localization. However, local stresses and strains can not be deduced directly from these tests. Consequently, Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was used to extract the local strain fields to failure. In parallel, numerical simulations of the tests were run using the non-linear finite element code LS-DYNA to extract the evolution of the local stress triaxiality during straining. Based on a combination of both experimental and numerical data, the failure locus of the material can be constructed.

Age-hardened aluminium alloys have various degrees of precipitate-free zones (PFZs) along grain boundaries (GBs). The PFZs are weak zones and their existence promotes combined transgranular and intergranular fracture, thus reducing the ductility of the alloy. In this study, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is used to display the geometrical properties and the chemical composition of the PFZs in the AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy. PFZs are found along grain and sub-GBs and their widths are about 40 and 20 nm, respectively. The PFZs are depleted of alloying elements compared with the nominal composition due to GB precipitation, but still they contain a certain amount of such elements in solid solution which will contribute to increase the yield strength and the work hardening compared to pure aluminium. Based on the results from the TEM study, a micromechanical finite element model of an idealized microstructure including grains and soft zones along the GBs is established. The Gurson model was used to represent the behaviour of the material in the grains and in the soft zones, using different initial void volume fractions to account for GB precipitation. Several loading conditions were applied to the micromechanical model in order to evaluate the localization of strains inside the soft zones and thus to get a better understanding of the role of the PFZs in ductile fracture of age-hardened aluminium alloys. It was found that the global failure strain varies non-monotonically with the global stress triaxiality due to the heterogeneity of the idealized microstructure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Understanding the influence of hydrostatic pressure and loading rate on the strength and fracture behavior of rocks is very important for the development of deep drilling technology. This paper presents a systematic study on the mechanical properties and behavior of Kuru Gray granite at confining pressures up to 225 MPa and at strain rates of 10 −6 s −1 and 600 s −1 . The low strain rate compression tests were carried out with a servo-controlled hydraulic testing machine with a radial confining chamber, and the dynamic tests with a special split Hopkinson pressure bar device with axial and radial confining pressure chambers. The results show that the rock strength increases significantly with strain rate and confining pressure. At confinements below 20 MPa, the strength of the material increases faster at the higher strain rate, but at confinements higher than this, the effect of confining pressure is stronger at the lower strain rate. The strain rate sensitivity increases when even a small confining pressure is applied. However, the rate sensitivity remains rather constant when the confining pressure is increased above 10 MPa. The parameters of the Hoek–Brown model and an alternative power-law model were calibrated for low and high rate data. Also, the fracture behavior of the rock was found to be strongly dependent on strain rate and confining pressure. At the low strain rate, the samples fail by axial splitting in the unconfined tests, whereas the dynamic unconfined tests result in a complete pulverization of the samples. At high confining pressures the fracture behavior is shear fracture for both studied strain rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]