Mechanical property of magnesium alloy sheet with hardening deterioration at warm temperatures and its application for failure analysis: Part II – failure analysis

The mechanical properties of a thin AZ31B Mg alloy sheet (with the thickness of 0.5 mm) were characterized for its anisotropy, temperature-dependent hardening (including its deterioration) and strain rate sensitivity based on simple tension test data measured at 100 °C, 150 °C, 200 °C, 250 °C, respectively, in Part I. As for anisotropy, simple tension tests were performed along three (rolling, transverse and in-between) directions to calibrate the Hill1948 yield function. As for temperature-dependent hardening, hardening as well as its deterioration (or softening) behavior observed beyond the uniform elongation limit was numerically characterized based on the inverse calibration method, in which strain rate sensitivity was also considered. The mechanical properties were confirmed to properly predict failure by strain localization for all the simple tension tests involved in the characterization procedure. Ultimately, the mechanical properties characterized in Part I were applied in Part II to analyze the failure by strain localization in the cross-shaped cup drawing tests developed as the benchmark problem for the NUMISHEET2011 conference [1]. The results showed that the mechanical properties with hardening deterioration properly predicted failure, while hardening without deterioration (obtained following the common practice) did not, confirming the importance of including the hardening deterioration in tensile property characterization, especially to predict forming failure by strain localization.