Response, Localization, and Rupture of Anisotropic Tubes Under Combined Pressure and Tension

The inelastic response and failure of Al-6061-T6 tubes under combined internal pressure and tension is investigated as part of a broader study of ductile failure of Al-alloys. A custom experimental setup is used to load thin-walled tubes to failure under radial paths in the axial-hoop stress space. All loading paths achieve nominal stress maxima beyond which deformation localizes into a narrow band. 3D digital image correlation (DIC) was used to monitor the deformations in the test section and successfully captured the rapid growth of strain within the localization bands where they burst. The biaxial stress states generated are first used to calibrate the nonquadratic anisotropic Yld04-3D yield function (Barlat et al., 2005, “Linear Transformation-based Anisotropic Yield Functions,” Int. J. Plasticity, 21(5), pp. 1009–1039). The constitutive model is then incorporated through a UMAT into a finite element analysis and used to simulate numerically the experiments. The same calculations were performed using von Mises (VM) and an isotropic nonquadratic yield function. The material hardening responses adopted were extracted for each constitutive model from the necked zone of a tensile test using an inverse method. The use of solid elements captures the evolution of local deformation deep into the localizing part of the response, producing strain levels that are required in the application of failure criteria. The results demonstrate that the adoption of a nonquadratic yield function, together with a correct material hardening response are essential for large deformation predictions in localizing zones in Al-alloys. Including the anisotropy in such a constitutive model produces results that are closest to the experiments.