Relationship Between Microstructure, Strength, and Fracture in an Al-Zn-Mg Electron Beam Weld: Part II: Mechanical Characterization and Modeling

This paper presents an experimental and modeling study of the mechanical behavior of an electron beam welded EN-AW 7020 aluminum alloy. The heterogeneous distribution of mechanical properties is characterized by micro-tensile tests and by strain field measurements using digital image correlation technic. These results are related to the microstructural observation presented in the companion paper. The mechanical behavior of the weld is simulated by a finite element model including a Gurson-type damage evolution model for void evolution. The model is shown to be capable of describing accurately experimental situations where the sample geometry is varied, resulting in stress triaxiality ratios ranging from 0.45 to 1.3.