Investigation of The Effect of Notch Tip Radius on Fracture Energy of Charpy in 7075 Aluminium Alloy

In the present study Charpy impact tests on a 7075-T651 aluminium alloy with full size (55×10×10 mm) with different notch tip radius (range of 0.19 to 0.40 mm) were conducted and the fracture energy was measured. The experimental results showed that the relationship between the fracture energy (E) and the notch tip radius of the Charpy samples (r) for the tested Aluminium is E=18.052r+1.741. Using this relationship, the Charpy energy can be determined for this Aluminium for any notch tip radius. Fracture surfaces revealed an intergranular failure for base metal in longitudinal direction, that a predominately brittle failure (cleavage) with some insights of ductile characteristics was observed. Moreover, with increasing notch tip radius, cracked particles were observed and some microvoids were nucleated, i.e., ductile fracture. Changes in the primary crack notch cause a change in the stress intensity factor adjacent to the crack tip, where the fracture energy in the Charpy Impact Test is subjected to the primary crack notch.