Thermal history and tensile strength determination from fracture surface analysis

Aluminum alloys are used in various critical aerospace applications that require properties to be obtained from very specific heat treatments. This study shows that the fracture surface can indicate details of the thermal history and strength of the material. This is a novel technique to characterize the material from an analysis of the fracture surface features. This study evaluated the effect of varying the cooling rate and aging time on the fracture surface of an aluminum alloy.