Mechanical Performance Evaluation of the Al-Mg-Si-(Cu) Aluminum Alloys after Transient Thermal Shock through an Novel Equivalent Structure Design and Finite Element Modeling

In this paper, the microstructure evolution and mechanical performance of the Al-Mg-Si-(Cu) aluminum alloy after transient thermal shock were investigated through experimental tests and finite element simulations. A novel equivalent structure was designed as a typical case in which one side of the plate was welded therefore the other side was thermally shocked with different temperature distribution and duration. The temperature gradient which influences most importantly the mechanical properties was simulated and experimentally verified. Through cutting layers and tensile testing, the mechanical response and material constitutive relation were obtained for each layer. Gurson-Tvergaard-Needlemen (GTN) damage parameters of these samples under large strains were then obtained by the Swift law inverse analysis approach. By sorting the whole welded joint into multi-material composed structure and introducing the obtained material constitutive relation and damage parameters, tensile properties were precisely predicted for typical types of weld joint such as butt, corner, and lap joints. The results show that precipitate coarsening, phase transformation from β″ phase to Q′ phase, and dissolving in the temperature range of 243.3–466.3 °C during the thermal shock induced a serious deterioration of the mechanical properties. The highest reduction of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) would be 38.6% and 57.4% respectively. By comparing the simulated and experimentally obtained force-displacement curves, the error for the above prediction method was evaluated to be less than 8.1%, indicating the proposed method being effective and reliable.

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