The influence of particle shape, volume fraction and distribution on post-necking deformation and fracture in uniaxial tension of AA5754 sheet materials

Finite element analysis was performed over a small particle field, edge constraint plane strain post-necking model. The aim is to understand the roles of particle shape, volume fraction and distribution over the post-necking deformation and fracture of AA5754-O sheet materials. For models containing one single particle, the post-necking deformation decreases when the particle varies from circular to elliptical. The inter-particle spacing, the major parameter of distribution to determine whether a pair of particles belongs to a stringer or not, was varied for models with two particles of circular or elliptical shape. The general trend is that the post-necking deformation and fracture strains decrease with decreasing spacing between particles. There is considerable difference in terms of both fracture topographies and strains for models containing 16 particles when distributions varied from random/uniform to stringer distributions. The post-necking deformation and fracture strains monotonically decrease with particle volume fractions for models with 4–64 particles of random or stringer distribution. This indicates that the post-necking behavior for AA5754-O alloys where the matrix material is rather ductile is not solely controlled by a single or pair of particles although they may become initiation places of damage. Multiple damaging sources such as stringers or large particles can act cooperatively and speed up the damaging propagation of the material, and therefore produce small post-necking deformation and early fracture. The center clustering of particles can be beneficial for post-necking behavior and bendability of sheet materials.