Ductile fracture predictions in small punch testing of cold-rolled aluminium alloy

Abstract The ductile fracture has been observed in large as well as small scales. Three chosen Lode and pressure dependent phenomenological ductile fracture criteria with cut-offs were calibrated for aluminium alloy EN AW 2024-T351 using an enhanced hybrid experimental–numerical technique. It consisted of calibrating all the material constants of fracture criteria altogether. This enabled ready determination of the cut-off related constant for one of those criteria. Moreover, a non-quadratic Lode dependent plasticity model was coupled with the ductile failure criteria to form the damage plasticity approach in the numerical analysis. The fracture criteria were calibrated using the standard – large – sized specimens including a non-standard upsetting test. The specimens used for the calibration of failure criteria are usually ten times larger than that of a specimen for the small punch test. The transferability of calibrated parameters was tested and fair predictability was observed for all numerical models when applied to small scales.