Finite Element Modeling of Plane Strain Toughness for 7085 Aluminum Alloy

In this work, the constitutive model for 7085-T7X (overaged) aluminum alloy plate samples with controlled microstructures was developed. Different lengths of 2nd step aging times produced samples with similar microstructure but different stress-strain curves (i.e., different nanostructure). A conventional phenomenological strain-hardening law with no strain gradient effects was proposed to capture the peculiar hardening behavior of the material samples investigated in this work. The classical Gurson–Tvergaard potential, which includes the influence of void volume fraction (VVF) on the plastic flow behavior, as well as an extension proposed by Leblond et al.,^[3] were considered. Unlike the former, the latter is able to account for the influence of strain hardening on the VVF growth. All the constitutive coefficients used in this work were based on experimental stress-strain curves obtained in uniaxial tension and on micromechanical modeling results of a void embedded in a matrix. These material models were used in finite element (FE) simulations of a compact tension (CT) specimen. An engineering criterion based on the instability of plastic flow at a crack tip was used for the determination of plane strain toughness K _Ic . The influence of the microstructure was lumped into a single state variable, the initial void volume fraction. The simulation results showed that the strain-hardening behavior has a significant influence on K _Ic .