Relating porosity with ductility in a commercial AA7075 alloy: A combined experimental and numerical study

In this paper, the effect of porosity on the ductility of as-cast AA7075 (a commercial highstrength aluminum alloy) was investigated. The as-cast material was processed through hot upsetting, and specimens with different porosity content were achieved. These were then subjected to tensile and compression tests. It was shown that the tensile ductility exhibited a near sigmoidal dependence on the porosity content. Compressive ductility, on the other hand, was not affected by the initial porosity content. In addition, direct observations, on an X-ray microscope (XRM), enabled 3-dimensional imaging of the porosity evolution during plastic deformation. Numerical simulations using a homogenized damage model, the Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) approach, was used for predicting the mechanical responses. The continuum model, which accounted for the growth and coalescence of spherical voids, captured the overall experimental patterns reasonably well.