Fracture mechanisms of aluminium alloy AA7075-T651 under various loading conditions

The fracture behaviour of the aluminium alloy AA7075-T651 is investigated for quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions and different stress states. The fracture surfaces obtained in tensile tests on smooth and notched axisymmetric specimens and compression tests on cylindrical specimens are compared to the fracture surfaces that occur when a projectile, having either a blunt or an ogival nose shape, strikes a 20 mm thick plate of the aluminium alloy. The stress state in the impact tests is much more complex and the strain rate significantly higher than in the tensile and compression tests. Optical and scanning electron microscopes are used in the investigation. The fracture surface obtained in tests with smooth axisymmetric specimens indicates that the crack growth is partly intergranular along the grain boundaries or precipitation free zones and partly transgranular by void formation around fine and coarse intermetallic particles. When the stress triaxiality is increased through the introduction of a notch in the tensile specimen, delamination along the grain boundaries in the rolling plane is observed perpendicular to the primary crack. In through-thickness compression tests, the crack propagates within an intense shear band that has orientation about 45° with respect to the load axis. The primary failure modes of the target plate during impact were adiabatic shear banding when struck by a blunt projectile and ductile hole-enlargement when struck by an ogival projectile. Delamination and fragmentation of the plates occurred for both loading cases, but was stronger for the ogival projectile. The delamination in the rolling plane was attributed to intergranular fracture caused by tensile stresses occurring during the penetration event.     

Tensile and fatigue behaviour of wrought magnesium alloys AZ31 and AZ61

The mechanical behaviour of two hot rolled magnesium alloys, namely the AZ31 and AZ61, has been evaluated experimentally under both monotonic and cyclic loading. Both longitudinal (L) and long transverse (LT) directions were evaluated. The tensile behaviour of the L and LT directions is similar and differs only in the offset 0.2% yield strength for both materials. This difference is attributed to the angular spread of basal poles toward the rolling direction and is more pronounced for the case of AZ31. A distinct hardening response is obvious in both directions. Twinning formation was observed; it is more pronounced in the longitudinal direction while the fracture mode is intergranular and equiaxed facets are present in the fracture surfaces of the specimens. The S–N curves exhibit a smooth transition from the low to high cycle fatigue regime. AZ61 exhibits an overall better fatigue behaviour compared to AZ31. A transgranular crack initiation mode is observed in all tested specimens while the propagation of the cracks is characterized as intergranular.     

Influence of the thermomechanical processing on the fracture mechanisms of high strength aluminium/pure aluminium multilayer laminate materials

The microstructure and mechanical properties, with emphasis in the impact fracture toughness behaviour, of two multilayer laminate materials have been investigated. The multilayer materials are constituted by alternated sheets of pure aluminium (Al 1200 or Al 1050) and high strength Al 7075 alloy. Stacked layers of these alloys have been successfully joined using two processing routes with different total hot rolling strains. Both laminates have been tested at room temperature under impact Charpy tests, three-point bend tests and shear tests on the interfaces. Both laminates exhibited more than eight times improvement in impact fracture toughness over the monolithic Al 7075-T6. The toughness increase in the higher rolling strained laminate is almost entirely due to crack blunting mechanism, while in the lower strained laminate, crack deflection by delamination and crack renucleation processes were active.     

Ultrahigh strength hot rolled microalloyed steel: microstructure and properties

Abstract

A low carbon steel alloyed with Ni, Mn, Mo, Cu and microalloyed with Nb and Ti was prepared. Continuous cooling transformation behaviour of the steel was evaluated. Formation of polygonal or Widmanstätten ferrite is suppressed at high temperature and the 'C' curve is shifted to an extreme right. At lower temperatures a flat top 'C' curve with a mixed structure of bainite and martensite was obtained and the transformation temperatures do not vary much with a wide range of cooling rates. The steel was thermomechanically processed at different finishing temperatures and ultrahigh strength values were obtained as a result of austenite grain refinement, highly dislocated fine lath martensite structure along with tiny precipitates of microalloying carbide and carbonitride at all finish rolling temperatures. The stable and large TiN/TiCN particles formed during casting have impaired the impact toughness values at ambient and at ?40°C temperatures.     

Mechanism of anisotropy in fracture behaviour and fracture toughness of high strength aluminium alloy plate

Abstract

The fracture behaviour and J_Ic fracture toughness of a commercial Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy plate has been investigated. Based on the experimental results and available theoretical analyses, the following results were obtained. Secondary grain boundary cracks appeared ahead of the main crack, which served as a triggering mechanism for small scale shearing. Shear failure facets on the fracture surface of single edge notched bend specimens represent the same type of fracture as the fast shear failure that occurred during tensile tests on notched specimens. The grain boundary cracking–small scale shearing mechanism is essentially a type of shielding event that not only makes the fracture appearance obviously anisotropic, but also, to a considerable extent, accounts for the strong anisotropy of fracture toughness.

MST/1111     

Effect of temper embrittlement and specimen size on Charpy impact testing of a Cr–Mo–V rotor steel

Abstract

Full and sub­size Charpy V notch specimens from several locations of a high pressure–intermediate pressure Cr–Mo–V turbine rotor were tested. A comparison between full and sub­size impact energy data showed that the smaller specimens exhibited qualitatively similar behaviour, with a systematic reduction in fracture appearance transition temperatures (FATTs). The full and sub­size impact energy data were normalised against the specimen area and volume. The latter normalisation produced the closest match and the offset between the two data sets was described by a simple linear equation. The sensitivity of impact energy and FATT to specimen size was examined in samples possessing different degrees of temper embrittlement. It was found that the difference in FATT between full and sub­size specimens for embrittled samples was at least double that of de­embrittled samples. It is proposed that the observed specimen size/impact energy/FATT variations with degree of embrittlement arise from sensitivity of intergranular fracture to lineal specimen thickness, since fracture occurs predominantly through a two­dimensional network of grain boundaries.     

Charpy impact behaviour of Sigma fibre reinforced titanium composites

Abstract

Charpy impact behaviour of SiC fibre reinforced titanium composites (TMCs)has been examined at a range of temperatures on specimens with fibres orientated longitudinally [0]₈ and transversely [90]₈ to the impact direction. Corresponding monolithic alloys have also been studied. Although monolithic Ti–6Al–4V has the superior ‘bend’strength at room temperature, Timetal 834 is superior at the operating temperatures of gas-turbine components. The TMCs follow the same trends as the monolithic alloys, but their impact strengths are inferior to the monolithic alloys by an order of magnitude. This is attributed to the low impact strength of the SiC fibres, which dominates in [0]₈ specimens, and the low strength of the fibre/matrix interface, which dominates in [90]₈ specimens. For [0]₈ specimens, Ti-6-4 reinforced with carbon coated SiC fibres (Sigma SM1140+) has consistently superior impact strength compared with the other three TMCs. For [90]₈ specimens, Timetal 834 reinforced with TiB_x/carbon coated SiC fibres (SM1240) exhibits the best impact strength at intermediate temperatures.     

Influence of intercritical annealing on strength and impact behaviour of niobium containing steels

Abstract

The influence of inter critical annealing at 730°C on the impact properties and strength of C–Mn–Al–Nb steels has been examined. For low Mn (0·56%), Nb steels, intercritical annealing resulted in improved impact performance and the impact transition temperature (ITT) was reduced by as much as 35 K with no change in strength. The improvement in impact performance is considered to be due to Mn segregating to the α/γ boundaries leading to refinement of the grain boundary carbides. This refinement increased with holding time at 730°C in accordance with an increased grain boundary segregation of Mn. Strength was not influenced because grain size remained unchanged on intercritical annealing. The improvement in impact behaviour was greater the longer the holding time at 730°C but was significant even after 15 min. Improvements occurred both on cooling from the austenitising temperature (9·20°C) to 730°C and on heating from room temperature to 730°C, the latter heat treatment being the more beneficial. For higher Mn (1·4%), Nb steels, improvements in impact performance resulting from intercritical annealing depended on cooling rate. Again, the Mn build-up in the y increases with time of intercritical annealing. Owing to the initial overall higher Mn level and finer grain size, the steels were susceptible to martensite formation if the cooling rate was too high. At a cooling rate of 40 K min - 1, improvements in impact behaviour occurred only after short intercritical annealing times (30 min) when only a small amount of martensite had formed. Long times caused a serious deterioration in impact behaviour due to the presence of high volume fractions of martensite. Slow cooling (1 K min^?1), however, ensured ferrite–pearlite structures and significant improvements in impact behaviour (20–60 K reductions in ITT) were noted on intercritical annealing with no change in strength. The short holding times required to achieve an improvement in impact behaviour in these fine grained steels are encouraging for the possible commercial exploitation of this heat treatment.

MST/1382     

Influence of grain boundary carbide thickness and grain size on cleavage fracture strength and Charpy impact behaviour of steels

Abstract

The cleavage fracture strengths and Charpy impact transition temperatures of plain C–Mn steels (0·12%C and 1–1·4%Mn) having ferrite–pearlite microstructures have been determined for ranges of grain size and grain boundary carbide thickness. Using appropriate heat treatments, ferrite grain size and carbide thickness were varied independently. Refining the ferrite grain size or grain boundary carbide thickness increased the fracture strength and decreased the impact transition temperature. Of the current theories for brittle fracture, an equation recently derived by Petch was found to give the most satisfactory agreement with the experimental data for cleavage strength.

MST/1424     

Effects of heat treatment processes on microstructure and properties of 2·25Cr–1Mo–0·25V HSLA steels

Abstract

In the present paper, the effects of the heat treatment processes with two conditioning treatments and four quenching–tempering processes on the mechanical properties of 2·25Cr–1Mo–0·25V high strength low alloyed (HSLA) steel are investigated. The results show that the conditioning treatments have obvious effects on the low temperature impact energy but little effect on the tensile strength. The elevation of the final austenitising temperature increases the strength, whereas it results in the decrease in the low temperature impact energy due to the coarse microstructure. The results of the fracture surfaces analysis further make sure that the fracture surfaces of tensile specimens all exhibit ductile characters with a lot of dimples. However, the fracture surfaces of impact specimens exhibit two typical fracture characters, i.e. the ductile and brittle fracture surface corresponding to the fine and coarse microstructures respectively. In addition, the elongation and reduction in area seem to be insensitive to the heat treatments. Meanwhile, the impact fracture mode is more sensitive to the grain size and not to the low temperature impact energy.     

Effect of grain size on crack propagation of high strength steel in gaseous hydrogen atmosphere

Abstract

The effect of prior austenite grain size on the crack propagation behaviour of tempered martensitic steels having tensile strength of about 2 GN m^?2 was studied in hydrogen gas at pressures in the range from 98 to 784 kPa using modified compact tension specimens. The crack propagation rate da/dt in hydrogen decreased as the prior austenite grain size increased from 45 to 450 μm. The dependence of da/dt on hydrogen pressure at a given applied stress intensity was examined. The permeation of hydrogen from the crack tip surface was estimated to decrease with increasing grain size. However, the fractographic study suggested that the degree of embrittlement of grain boundaries increases with grain size. Consequently, the inverse effect of grain size on da/dt may be caused by a decrease of the average concentration of hydrogen along grain boundaries at the crack tip with increasing grain size.

MST/1060     

Characterization on strength and toughness of welded joint for Q550 steel

Q550 high strength steel was welded using gas shielded arc welding and three different welding wires without pre- or post-heat treatments. The paper investigates the influence of welding wire on the microstructure, tensile strength and impact toughness of Q550 steel weld joints. Results showed that the microstructure of the weld metal of joints produced using ER50-6 wire was a mixture of acicular ferrite and grain boundary ferrite including pro-eutectoid ferrite and ferrite side plate. Acicular ferrite was mainly obtained in the weld metal of the joints produced using MK·G60-1 wire. Pro-eutectoid ferrite was present along the boundary of prior austenite. Crack initiation occurred easily at pro-eutectoid ferrite when the joint was subjected to tensile. Tensile strength and impact toughness were promoted with increasing acicular ferrite. Tensile strength of the joint fabricated using MK·G60-1 wire was close to that of base metal. And tensile samples fractured at location of the fusion zone, which had lower toughness and thus became the weak region in the joint. Impact absorbing energy was the highest in the heat affected zone. Fibrous region in fracture surfaces of impact specimens was characterized as transgranular fracture with the mechanism of micro-void coalescence. Acicular ferrite microstructure region corresponded to relatively large dimples while boundary ferrite microstructure corresponded to small dimples.     

Developing higher strength microalloyed medium carbon steel capable of being fracture split after laser transformation notching

Abstract

High proof strength (>600 MPa) microalloyed medium carbon steels are being developed to replace high carbon steels in the production of internal combustion engine components which are manufactured by processes involving fracture splitting. The target steels are required to achieve a balance between the ability to fracture when initiated by a novel laser transformation notch (LTN) and the properties required by the application. In this study, the effect of phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) and the depths of LTN on the fracture process of these forged steels were investigated by using an instrumented Charpy impact tester. The impact specimens were notched by a fibre laser with no removal of material. The depth of the notch showed a significant influence on the force–displacement curves, the Charpy impact energy and the associated fracture surfaces. The steel with combined high S and P contents showed the lowest Charpy impact energy of 2·9 J when the depth of LTN was >0·4 mm compared to 5·5 J with the steel containing only a higher S content and 11·2 J for the reference base steel with normal S and P contents. It was observed that MnS inclusions in the originally forged materials were redistributed to the resolidified grain boundaries in the melted region of the LTN. The distribution of P could not be identified in the LTN but presumably it also segregated to the interdendritic regions and the columnar grain boundaries during freezing. The steel containing enhanced contents of S and P was shown to be potentially suitable for fracture splitting and higher load applications.     

Environmental and internal hydrogen embrittlement of a directionally solidified Ni-rich Ni3AI intermetallics

The influence of tensile orientation, test environments and internal hydrogen contents on the room temperature tensile properties of a directionally solidified Ni₃Al alloy was investigated. The specimens parallel to the growth direction exhibited a good ductility and little susceptibility to test environment. The values of elongation in vacuum, air and H₂ are 39.7%, 39.2% and 29.7%, respectively. Also, a transgranular fracture mode was observed in the specimens. However, the specimens perpendicular to the growth direction exhibited lower ductility, much more sensitivity to test environment and intergranular fracture mode. The elongation values in vacuum, air and H₂ are 13.7%, 10.3% and 3.3%, respectively. The results indicate that the cohesive strength of grain boundaries in the alloy is low and they are more susceptible to test environment than are grain interiors. In addition, only a slight embrittlement of the internal hydrogen was found in the specimens parallel to the growth direction.     

A microstructural approach to flaw size dependence of strength in engineering ceramics

In this work, microstructural effects on the flaw size dependence of ceramic strength were investigated from aspects of stress analysis in the grain just ahead of the crack tip and also R-curve behaviour. In the analysis, it was assumed that the stress averaged in one grain just ahead of the crack tip, in ceramics, might control the fracture from a flaw. A microstructurally modified fracture criterion using the averaged stress was established by introducing the R-curve due to the grain bridging effect for longer cracks. A new R-curve of an exponential type was proposed for the fracture criterion. The criterion could adequately express the central trend in the dispersal of experimental results in the strength versus flaw size relation. To explain the scatter of results, the size distribution and the crystallographic anisotropy of the grain ahead of the crack tip were examined as dominant factors. The lower bound of strength scatter was estimated from the largest grain size, and the strength dispersion was reduced by decreasing the range of grain size variation. In FEM simulations, each element was regarded as one grain with a different crystallographic orientation, which was randomly selected by using a series of quasi-uniform random numbers. It was revealed that the scatter of strength due to crystallographic variations was smaller than the strength dispersion caused by a distributed grain size.     

一种新型980MPa高强钢在不同温度下的拉伸断裂试验

本文通过在不同温度下,对一种轧制而成的贝氏体高强钢在三个相互垂直的方向进行了拉伸实验,结合宏观力学性能参数及微观断口形貌的观察,分析了这种高强钢在不同温度下的拉伸断裂行为。结果表明:此种钢在三个方向上的宏观力学性能参数基本相同(在室温下屈服强度为950MPa,抗拉强度为1000MPa;-196℃下,屈服强度达到1260MPa,抗拉强度高达1400MPa)。但沿不同方向的拉伸断口差异却很大。沿轧制方向和宽度方向的试样,不同温度下断口形貌相似,在温度较低的试样中都出现了纵向裂纹,在-196℃均出现"Z"型断裂路径;但沿板厚方向的试样,在不同温度下其断口形态都为典型的拉伸断口。     

An experimental study on the dynamic fracture of extruded AA6xxx and AA7xxx aluminium alloys

The dynamic fracture behaviour of extruded AA6xxx and AA7xxx aluminium alloys is investigated using an instrumented Charpy test machine and V-notch specimens. The specimens are made from extruded flat profiles with a rectangular cross-section of 10 mm thickness and 83 mm width. The material is in T6 temper, i.e. the peak hardness condition. The alloys have either recrystallized or fibrous grain structure. For each alloy six different Charpy impact tests are carried out in two series. In Series 1, the notch is parallel to the thickness direction of the profile (i.e. through the thickness), while the notch is perpendicular to the thickness direction in Series 2 (i.e. lying in the plane of the flat profile). In each series, the longitudinal direction of the specimen is parallel, 45° or 90° to the extrusion direction. Comprehensive fractographic investigations are carried out for the different tests and alloys. It is found that the dissipated energy is practically invariant to specimen orientation and notch direction for the recrystallized alloy. For the fibrous alloys the dissipated energy is lower when the longitudinal direction of the specimen is 90° to the extrusion direction, i.e. when the notch is parallel with the fibrous grain structure. Further, the energy dissipation is higher for Series 2 than for Series 1 due to substantial delamination and secondary cracking in Series 2. The precipitate-free zones (PFZs) formed adjacent to the grain boundary are weak areas, preferable for crack initiation and growth. This is seen in the fracture surface as facets with high density of small dimples and is more pronounced for specimens with the notch parallel to the fibre direction.     

Influence of warm working and tempering on fissure formation

Abstract

The influence of warm working and tempering on the formation of fissures on the fractured faces of Charpy V-notch samples has been examined for a variety of ferrite–pearlite steels and iron alloys which had been rolled in the temperature range 600–400°C and tempered in the range 600–725°C. In accordance with fissures being initiated by the ease of intergranular failure along the ferrite grain boundaries, the number of deep fissures produced on warm working increased with the degree of grain boundary alignment in the rolling direction and the grain aspect ratio (maximum grain diameter/minimum grain diameter). Pearlite banding and the presence of grain boundary carbides were found not to influence the number of fissures formed, fissuring behaviour being the same for the Fe–Mn alloys and plain C–Mn steels. The presence of low levels of S and P also did not influence fissure formation. At a given average grain aspect ratio it was found that the introduction of a two phase rolling sequence (760–720°C) into the rolling schedule encouraged fissure formation. This is probably due to a small number of elongated grains not recrystallising during the two phase rolling sequence and being further elongated at the lower rolling temperatures, combined with a greater alignment of the ferrite boundaries in the rolling direction. By rolling the steels and Fe alloys with the same reduction at temperatures insufficient to allow recrystallisation (600–400°C), it has been possible to keep the aspect ratio constant and vary the dislocation density. At constant aspect ratio, increasing the dislocation density by warm working increased the number of deep fissures formed. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that the weakness at the grain boundaries which gives rise to these fissures may be caused by dislocation interaction with the boundary together with boundary alignment giving a well defined crack path. Subsequent tempering at 600°C which allowed some recovery to take place without grain boundary movement did not reduce the number of fissures. Fissuring was only removed when the tempering temperature was high enough to allow grain boundary movement.

MST/769     

Effects of ferrite grain size and martensite volume fraction on dynamic deformation behaviour of 0·15C–2·0Mn–0·2Si dual phase steels

Abstract

Effects of ferrite grain size and martensite volume fraction on quasistatic and dynamic deformation behaviour of 0·15C–2·0Mn–0·2Si dual phase steels were investigated in this study. Dynamic torsional tests were conducted on six steel specimens that had different ferrite grain sizes and martensite volume fractions, using a torsional Kolsky bar, and then the test data were compared in terms of microstructures, tensile properties, fracture mode, and adiabatic shear band formation. Under dynamic torsional loading, maximum shear stress and fracture shear strain increased with decreasing ferrite grain size and increasing martensite volume fraction. Observation of the deformed area beneath the fracture surface after the dynamic torsional test indicated that adiabatic shear bands of 5 to 15 μm in width were formed along the shear stress direction, and that voids or microcracks initiated at ferrites or martensite/ferrite interfaces below the shear band. The width of the shear band decreased as the ferrite grain size increased or the martensite volume fraction decreased. These phenomena were then analysed by introducing concepts of theoretical critical shear strain.