Abstract
The present study investigated experimentally and numerically the structural behaviour of two chamber extruded profiles in AA6060-T7 alloy subjected to axial crushing under quasi-static loading conditions. Experimental tests were performed (including uniaxial tests, in-plane shear test and plane strain tension tests) to characterize the elastic–plastic, anisotropy and fracture behaviour of the investigated material. The material under investigation exhibited anisotropic properties and isotropic yield models such as von-Mises were not able to predict correctly the shear and plane strain test behaviour. It depicted that the advanced material model with anisotropic Yld2004-18p yield function and ECL criterion was necessary to predict the material tests results (UT, ISS and PST) both in terms of force–displacement curves and ductile fracture. Axial crushing tests were also conducted to investigate the energy absorption capacity of two chamber profiles made of this alloy. A solid element-based numerical model of these component tests was established in the commercial finite element code LS-DYNA, and simulations were run with the calibrated material models and fracture criterion. The predicted force–displacement curves, the energy absorption and fracture were in a good agreement with the experimental results. These results demonstrate that numerical models can be used as a reliable design tool for optimizing aluminium profiles for automotive applications