Deformation and failure mechanisms in commercial AA5083 materials

AA5083 aluminum sheet materials have been studied for the determination of deformation and failure mechanisms over a range of temperatures and strain rates. In addition to relatively standard methods of deformation mechanism determination, the characterization of transient creep behaviors has been used for the identification of deformation mechanisms. Both grain-boundary sliding and solute-drag creep are found to contribute to deformation within the range of temperatures and strain rates evaluated. The mechanisms of tensile failure observed include cavitation-induced ductile fracture and cavitation-induced ductile fracture accelerated by neck growth. The failure mechanisms of samples elongated in tension have been quantitatively evaluated using a new parameter, Q. This parameter provides a measure of the contributions to failure from necking and cavitation and is found to provide insight into the deformation mechanisms active prior to failure in the AA5083 materials.