Modeling of the damage mechanisms in ALMgSi alloys - Understanding the role of homogenization on the extrudability

With the growth in importance of the aluminium industry, has come increased demand to invest into the quality improvement of the different aluminium based hot extruded products. One of the main mechanisms, which can influence deformation at high temperature within the 6xxx aluminium, is linked to the presence of the AlFeSi intermetallic phases. These phases severely restrict hot workability when present as hard and brittle plate-like precipitates b-AlFeSi.
Damage initiation occurs in these alloys by decohesion or fracture of these intermetallic inclusions. The understanding and modeling of the deformation and fracture behavior of aluminium alloys at room and at hot working temperature is very important for optimizing manufacturing processes such as extrusion. The ductility of 6xxx aluminium alloys can be directly related to chemical composition and to the microstructural evolution occurring during the heat treatment procedures preceding extrusion if proper physics based deformation and fracture models are used.
In this thesis, room temperature and hot tensile tests are adopted to address the problem xperimentally. The damage evolution mechanisms is defined at various temperatures and a micromechanics based model of the Gurson type considering several populations of cavities nucleated by different second phase particles groups is developed on the basis of the experimental observations. This model allows relating quantitatively microstructure and ductility at various temperatures strain rates and stress triaxialities.
Finite element simulations based on an enhanced micromechanics-based model are used to validate the model. Finally, the effect of some key factors that determine the extrudability of aluminium is also discussed and a correlation between the ductility calculations in uniaxial tension and the maximum extrusion speed is developed for one defined profile.