FE Modelling of Tensile and Impact Behaviours of Squeeze Cast Magnesium Alloy AM60

In response to the need for reduced global emissions, the transportation industry has been steadily increasing the magnesium content in vehicles. This trend has resulted in experimental documentation of numerous alloy and casting combinations, while comparatively little work has been done regarding the development of numerical material models for vehicle crashworthiness simulations. In this study, material mechanical behaviour was implemented into an existing material model within the nonlinear FEA code LS-DYNA to emulate the mechanical behaviour of squeeze cast magnesium alloy AM60 with a relatively thick section of 10 mm thickness. Model validation was achieved by comparing the numerical and experimental results of a tensile test and Charpy impact event. Validation found an average absolute error of 5.44% between numerical and experimental tensile test data, whereas a relatively large discrepancy was found during Charpy evaluation. This discrepancy has been attributed to the presence of microstructure inhomogeneity in the squeeze cast magnesium alloy AM60.