Damage and fracture mechanism of 6063 aluminum alloy under three kinds of stress states

To study the damage and fracture mechanism of 6063 aluminum alloy under different stress states,three kinds of representative triaxial stress states have been adopted,namely smooth tensile,notch tensile,and pure shear.The results of the study indicate the following.During the notch tensile test,a relatively higher stress triaxiality appears in the root of the notch.With the applied loading increasing,the volume fraction of microvoids in the root of the notch increases continuously.When it reaches the critical volume fraction of microvoids,the specimen fractures.During the pure shear test,the stress triaxiality almost equals to zero,and there is almost no microvoids but a shear band at the center of the butterfly specimen.The shear band results from nonuniform deformation constantly under the shear stress.With stress concentration,cracks are produced within the shear band and are later coalesced.When the equivalent plastic strain reaches the critical value（equivalent plastic fracture strain）,the butterfly specimen fractures.During the smooth tensile test,the stress triaxiality in the gauge of the specimen remains constant at 0.33.Thus,the volume of microvoids of the smooth tensile test is less than that of the notch tensile test and the smooth specimen fractures due to shearing between microvoids.The G-T-N damage model and Johnson-Cook model are used to simulate the notch tensile and shear test,respectively.The simulated engineering stress-strain curves fit the measured engineering stress-strain curves very well.In addition,the empirical damage evolution equation for the notch specimen is obtained from the experimental data and FEM simulations.

Effect of Current Density on Microstructure and Corrosion Behavior of Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation Coated 6063 Aluminum Alloy

Plasma electrolytic oxidation(PEO) coatings were fabricated on 6063 aluminum alloy in a cheap and convenient electrolyte. The effect of different current densities, i e, 5, 10, 15, and 20 A/dm2on the microstructure and corrosion behavior of coatings was comprehensively studied by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), stereoscopic microscopy, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS), respectively. It is found that the pore density decreases and the pore size increases with increasing current density. The XRD results show that the coatings are only composed of α-Al2O3and γ-Al2O3. Potentiodynamic polarization test proves that the coating formed under 10 A/dm2possesses the best anticorrosion property. The long time EIS test shows that the coating under 10 A/dm2is able to protect the aluminum alloy substrate after long time of immersion in 0.59 M NaCl solution, which confirms the salt solution immersion test results in 2 M NaCl solution.

Effects of nugget alloying on microstructures and properties of resistance spot welded joints of aluminum and steel

The resistance spot welding of 6063-T6 aluminum alloy and 16Mn steel was studied by nugget alloying. The results indicated that the Al-steel joint had characteristics of welding-brazing. The nugget zone consisted mainly of α-Al solid solution with dislocations and fine Mg2Si particles. The interface zone had a double-layer structure： Fe2Al5 layer at steel side and Fe4Al13 layer at Al nugget side. The nugget alloying has a significant effect on the joint properties by changing phase composition and refinement of grains. When alloy elements Cu, Zn, Ti and Ni were added, the tensile shear load of Al-steel joints reached 2 780 N, 2 910 N, 2 915 N and 2 929 N respectively, which increased by 24. 1%, 29.9%, 30. 1% and 30. 7% respectively compared with that （2 241 N） of joint without nugget alloying. Therefore, it is an effective way for improving mechanical properties of resistance spot welded Al-steel joints.