BASIC MICROSTRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF ALUMINUM ALLOYS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON FRACTURE BEHAVIOUR.
Abstract
A simplified view is presented of the process of fracture of aluminum alloys in terms of the strain hardening of an element of material approaching the crack tip. The toughness can be limited by features such as the anisotropy of properties due to the cast structure, the occurrence of grain boundary failure, or the localization of slip. It is shown that these modes of failure can be described in terms of measurable microstructural features in at least a semiquantitative manner which permits some rationalization of the observed variations of toughness in commercial materials.