Effect of Micro-Voids on Crack Initiation and Propagation in Bending Deformation of Al-Mg-Si Alloy Sheet

Abstract

The crack initiation and propagation during bending have been considered to be affected by second phase particles, micro-voids and shear-bands. However, the effects of the second phase particles and the micro-voids on the crack initiation and propagation during bending have not been fully investigation. In this study, the effect of the second phase particle distribution on the formation of micro-voids, and the effect of the micro-voids on the crack initiation and propagation during bending were investigated using the largest synchrotron radiation facility “SPring-8” and FE-SEM/EBSD. With the bending ratio increasing, the micro-voids increased around the coarse particles near the outer surface. In particular, coarse micro-voids were formed around coarse particles with a high aspect ratio on the shear-bands. At a large cracked part, coarse micro-void was observed at the outmost layer section as a crack initiation site, and coarse micro-voids and asheared fracture surface were observed at the crack propagation site. At the small cracked part with no propagation, cube orientation grains were located under the small crack. It was considered that these cube orientation grains inhibited the formation of shear-bands, therefore, propagation of the cracks did not occur at the small cracked area.