Microstructural Influences on Formability and Fracture of Aluminum Alloy 2036

Abstract

<p>The mechanical deformation behaviour of the age-hardenable aluminum alloy 2036 was used to study the effects of differences in the microstructure due to (a) variations in commercial processing for one ageing condition (T4), and (b) variations in the ageing condition for one processing route. The effects of loading along different proportional straining paths have been considered with the aim of establishing correlations between the mechanical properties and formability, and for the case of (a) above, some rationalisation of selected press performance in terms of particular microstructural constituents has also been attempted. Changes in the fracture behaviour due to both (a) and (b) above are discussed. These changes emphasise the need to consider the role of fracture events in forming operations and their dependence on microstructure.</p>