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.