Output details
15 - General Engineering
University of Southampton
Evolution of voids during ductile crack propagation in an aluminium alloy sheet toughness test studied by synchrotron radiation computed tomography
Significance of output:
Light alloys are vital in contemporary transport and the economy: the associated UK manufacturing sector represents >£30bn turnover, employing >500,000 people. Truly predictive models of associated materials failure problems remain a Holy Grail for structural design. Exploiting world-class synchrotron tomography, this work circumvented the historic inadequacies of post mortem and/or surface-based failure analyses. Whilst this has been carried out elsewhere, this work (funded by Alcan, jean-christophe.EHRSTROM@constellium.com), critically examined commercial microstructure, at lengthscales and stress conditions of actual engineering relevance, providing validation for state-of-the-art simulations required for next generation engineering design tools, as exemplified in the partner submission (see doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2009.04.046).
