Modeling thermal cycling induced micro-damage in aluminum welds: An extension of Gurson void nucleation model

Mechanical properties and damage mechanism of 5A06 aluminum alloy welded joint under thermal cycling condition were investigated. Microstructural and fractographic observation demonstrate that void nucleation around the second phase particles is the dominant factor for performance decrease. A modified Gurson void nucleation model was presented to characterize the effect of thermal stress assisted voiding based on the micromechanical analysis of a cell model. This model was successfully implemented in the finite element code to describe the void evolution under thermal cycling conditions.