International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388

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International Journal of Impact Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijimpeng

Quasi-static and high strain rate fracture behaviour of Ti6Al4V

TagedPD1X XP. VerleysenD2X X*, D3X XJ. PeirsD4X X
TagedPDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

TAGEDPA R T I C L E I N F O TAGEDPA B S T R A C T

Article History: Static and dynamic experiments on sheet and bar titanium Ti6Al4V alloy are presented. Aiming at a compre-
Received 15 December 2016 hensive set of data on the materials damage and failure properties, different sample geometries and loading
Revised 28 February 2017 modes are considered. For the Ti6Al4V sheet, tensile loading of in-plane shear, two different in-plane tensile
Accepted 1 March 2017
and plane strain samples are used, for the bar, tensile loading of cylindrical samples and torsion of thin-
Available online 2 March 2017
walled tubes. High strain rates, up to 1500 s¡1, are achieved in split Hopkinson bar tensile and torsion set-
ups. The evolution of the surface strain fields in the samples is obtained by a digital image correlation tech-
TagedPKeywords:
nique. Insight is gained in the underlying fracture mechanisms by post mortem evaluation of fracture
Fracture
Ti6Al4V
strains, fracture surface morphologies and voids in the material adjacent to the fracture surfaces, using opti-
Strain rate cal and SEM micrographs. Further analysis and interpretation of the test results is supported by finite ele-
Triaxiality ment (FE) simulations which give valuable information on the stress and strain state at and in the vicinity of
Damage the fracture location, including the loading path up to the onset of fracture. In the FE simulations, strain rate
and temperature dependent hardening is taken into account with the Johnson
Cook hardening law. Two
models are used to describe the fracture behaviour of the Ti-alloy: for the sheet the phenomenological John-
son
Cook damage initiation criterion combined with an energy-based ductile damage law, for the bar a
physically based Gurson-type failure model. Although, neither of the models is able to capture the full com-
plexity of the fracture process, the FE simulations provide key information for an in-depth understanding of
the fracture behaviour of Ti6Al4V.
In all samples and test conditions, a ductile fracture is observed which is mainly affected by the stress triaxi-
ality. At the lower triaxialities, the process of void nucleation and growth is abruptly ended by strain locali-
zation in narrow bands. The effect of strain rate is mainly felt through the induced thermal softening which
favours strain localization.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction TagedP ccidental use (impact, failure of components, crack propagation...)

TagedPTi6Al4V is the most widely used titanium alloy, due to the excel-
lent combination of low weight, good mechanical properties and
resistance to hostile service conditions such as extreme tempera-
tures and corrosive environments. The mechanical behaviour of
Ti6Al4V is determined by the multi-phase microstructure consisting
of a harder (and richer) b-phase, which gives its strength, and a
softer a-phase, which provides workability [1]. The a- and b-phases
act as incoherent phases, which results in a strengthening effect. So,
these alloys have a high density of a/b-boundaries which are bar-
riers to slip transmission. On the other hand, the a/b-boundaries are
sites of strain accumulation and strain incompatibility, and might be
preferential sites for void nucleation.
TagedPTi6Al4V is used in the industry in applications such as aircraft
components, turbine blades or sports equipment. In these applica-
tions, the material can be subjected to dynamic loads during
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: Patricia.Verleysen@UGent.be (P. Verleysen).
a
or during various production processes (machining, punching, deep
drawing, incremental forming, cutting, ...). Because both the plastic
and failure behaviour of titanium are significantly affected by the
strain rate, knowledge of the high strain rate behaviour is indispens-
able for users and manufacturers of titanium components. Therefore,
it is not surprising that the scientific community has exhaustively
studied the strain rate and temperature dependent mechanical
behaviour of Ti6Al4V [1
14]. Many of these studies report on test
programs aiming at the characterisation of plastic flow properties
using uniaxial tensile or compression, or torsion experiments
[1,3
5,8,9]. Obviously, in between the lines, data can be found on
the fracture behaviour, however, fracture is never systematically
analysed. In [2,6,7,11
13] on the contrary, fracture of TI6Al4V is
addressed explicitly. However, the focus lies quasi-exclusively on
the phenomenon of adiabatic shear banding. Up to the authors
knowledge, a broader, systematic study into the damage and frac-
ture behaviour of Ti6Al4V is still lacking.
TagedPAt the origin of fracture in ductile materials lies a process of void
initiation, growth and coalescence. Plastic instabilities, caused by

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2017.03.001
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 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388 371

TagedPlocalized plastic flow or damage softening [15], play an important
role in this process, because these instabilities generally involve one
or more shear bands which are a precursor to rapid failure. The fail-
ure process, including fracture, is determined by material properties
and loading conditions. The latter includes imposed deformation
and/or loading paths, temperature, strain rate and load repetitions
[16
19]. To evaluate the effect of the stress state on ductile damage
and fracture, two scalar descriptors are commonly used: the stress
triaxiality and Lode parameter (or Lode angle). While the triaxiality
is a measure for the mean normal or hydrostatic stress, the Lode
parameter is related to the position of the stress state in the devia-
toric plane of the principal stress space [20]. The effect of hydrostatic
pressure on both plastic flow and fracture, was already recognised in
the ’50s of previous century by Bridgman [21]. Based on void growth
analysis, McClintock [22] and Rice [23] came to an exponential
decrease of the fracture strain as a function of triaxiality. Since this
pioneering work, more complex and material specific relations
between fracture strain and triaxiality have been developed. For
some materials, the effect of triaxiality is not monotonic over a wide
range of stress triaxialities. For aluminium 2024-T351 for instance,
Bao et al. [24] distinguished three triaxiality regions, each governed
by a different fracture mechanism, for which different relationships
between triaxiality and fracture strain are proposed. The apparent
non-monotonic relationship between the fracture strain and the
stress triaxiality is often indicative for a dependency of the Lode
parameter. Therefore, fracture loci have been developed taking both
triaxiality and Lode parameter into account [25]. Tests imposing pro-
portional loading conditions, and consequently a constant triaxiality
and Lode parameter, to the material significantly simplify test analy-
sis [26]. However, when high strain gradients arise due to plastic
instabilities, triaxiality and Lode parameter might deviate from their
proportional values and fracture parameters can no longer be
straightforwardly correlated with the stress state.
TagedPMany studies can be found linking the triaxiality and Lode param-
eter to fracture strain, absorbed energy and fracture morphology.
Special attention is paid to whether or not a slant fracture surface is
obtained, because slant fractures detrimentally affect the energy
absorbed during failure. Although, slant ductile rupture is a com-
monly reported failure mode, currently there are no comprehensive
fracture criteria for quantitative prediction of slant fracture and
many slant fracture issues still remain unresolved [27
29]. Next to
by these macroscopic features, a ductile fracture is also characterised
by microscopic features, such as dimples in the fracture surface and
traces of microdamage in the material adjacent to the crack, such as
voids, shear bands and microcracks [29]. These features are not only
the result of the ductile damage process, they also affect the process.
Indeed, for Ti6Al4V experimental evidence is found that the softening
effect of voids favours failure of the material by localization [14].
TagedPAlso the effect of strain rate and temperature on fracture was
found to be strongly material dependent. For OFHC copper, Armco
iron and 4340 steel, Johnson and Cook [30] concluded that both tem-
perature and strain rate had a positive effect on the fracture strain.
However, in literature also data can be found indicating a different
relationship between strain rate and temperature at the one hand
and fracture strain at the other. For Weldox 460E steel, for example,
a decreasing fracture strain with strain rate and hardly any effect of
the temperature below 300 °C were found [31]. For Ti6Al4V, no sys-
tematic studies can be found focussing on the effect of strain rate on
fracture properties of Ti6Al4V.
TagedPObviously, the prediction of the fracture characteristics from the
material properties and loading conditions demands for a multilevel
approach based on experimental data [32]. Aiming at a better under-
standing of damage and fracture of Ti6Al4V, in present contribution, a
comprehensive set of test results is presented. The influence of load-
ing conditions is studied by performing static and dynamic experi-
ments with different stress triaxialities: shear, tensile and plane strain
tTagedP ests on sheet Ti6Al4V, and tensile and torsion tests on bar Ti6Al4V.
Post mortem, the fractured samples are thoroughly studied by light
optical (LOM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Next to the
fracture strain, also the fracture morphology is studied. Details are
given on the presence, size and distribution of voids in the material
adjacent to the fracture surface of all samples. Additionally, to come
to an in-depth interpretation and analysis of the test results, finite ele-
ment (FE) simulations are performed which give detailed information
on the stress and strain distribution close to the fracture, including
the loading path up to the onset of fracture. In the FE model, J2-plas-
ticity with the Johnson
Cook strain rate and temperature dependent
hardening law [10,33] is used to describe the yield behaviour of
Ti6Al4V. Two models are used for the fracture behaviour: 1) the phe-
nomenological Johnson
Cook damage initiation criterion combined
with an exponential damage evolution law for the sheet material
[30,34] and 2) a physically based Gurson-type failure model in which
growth and coalescence of voids is considered for the bar material
[29,35]. Based on simulations a link is establish between the fracture
characteristics at the one hand and the stress states and strain rates at
the other. Unavoidably, test results are affected by the intrinsic behav-
iour of the test material on the one hand, and structural effects related
to sample geometry, boundary conditions and loading mode on the
other hand. The simulations are used to distinguish between both.
2. Experimental techniques
2.1. Material and test samples
TagedPThe investigated material is Ti6Al4V (ASTM Grade 5) provided by
Ò
TIMET (Toronto, Canada) in two different product forms: bulk
material (Timet, UK) and sheet material (Timet, USA). The bulk mate-
rial comes in the form of bars, obtained by a semi-continuous extru-
sion process, in mill-annealed condition, with a diameter of
16 mm § 0.18 mm. The sheets, obtained by cold-rolling, come also in
mill-annealed condition and have a thickness of 0.6mm § 0.06 mm.
Although the bulk and sheet material are both classified as TIME-
Ò
TAL 6-4, they do not have exactly the same chemical composition
nor the same microstructure. Table 1 shows the chemical composi-
tion reported by the manufacturer for each of the products [36,37],
as well as the limits defined in the AMS-4911 standard [38]. A differ-
ent behaviour of the bulk and sheet material is expected, because
the microstructure of Ti-6Al-4V strongly depends on the production
process parameters [39]. Ti6Al4V consists of a majority of hexagonal
close packed a-phase and a finely dispersed body centred cubic
b-phase (at room temperature approximately 4vol% b). More details
on the microstructure, including texture, can be found in [40].
TagedPThe effect of the stress state on the fracture properties is investi-
gated using six different sample geometries. The geometries are
designed to cover a wide range of triaxialities h and Lode parameters
L defined as:
sh
hD ð1Þ
s eq
ð2s II ¡s I ¡s III Þ
LD ð2Þ
ðs I ¡s III Þ
Table 1
Chemical composition (weight percent) of Ti6Al4V products reported by the supplier
in the accompanying test reports [37,36] and defined in the ASM-4911 standard [38].
Fe V Al C O N
TIMET Sheet [36] 0.16 3.98 6.27 0.009 0.19 0.009
Bar [37] 0.18 4.14 6.47 0.010 0.19 0.005
Standard [38] Min.
3.50 5.50



Max. 0.30 4.50 6.75 0.080 0.20 0.050
Y, H and remaining elements: <0.42. Remainder: Ti
372 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388

TagedPWith s h the hydrostatic stress, s eq the Mises equivalent stress, and
s I, s II and s III the principal stresses ordered following s I  s II  s III.
Important to note is that for plane stress conditions the Lode param-
eter is a function of the stress triaxiality; under axisymmetric load-
ing the Lode parameter is either ¡1 or C1 [15].
TagedPTo characterise the basic, static properties of the sheet Ti6Al4V,
tensile tests are conducted on a geometry based on the ASTM-E8
standard with a length of the parallel gauge section of 50 mm and
width of 12.5 mm [9]. This sample is denoted by GL50. The geometry
guarantees that -before necking- homogeneous stresses with a triax-
iality of 1/3 and Lode parameter of ¡1 are reached in a sufficiently
large region around the centre.
TagedPThe influence of the stress state and strain rate is studied using
the geometries presented in Fig. 1. The three sheet samples (Fig. 1,
left) are subjected to a tensile deformation. The in-plane shear sam-
ple geometry (Fig. 1a) is optimized for Ti6Al4V aiming at a homoge-
neous strain and triaxiality in the shear zone [8,41]. Key feature is
the eccentric position of the notches which gives rise to an almost
pure shear stress state up to large strains, i.e. triaxiality and Lode
parameter 0. In the in-plane sheet tensile sample (Fig. 1b) on the
contrary, starting from their respective uniaxial tensile values of 1/
3 and ¡1, the triaxiality and Lode parameter in the centre very rap-
idly increase during plastic deformation [8,42]. In the plane strain
pffiffiffi
TagedPsheet sample (Fig. 1c), a triaxiality of 1/ 3 is aimed at, the Lode
parameter is 0.
TagedPFor the bar material (Fig. 1, right), the thin-walled tubular sample
(Fig. 1d), when deformed in torsion, is designed to obtain homoge-
neous stresses and strains in the gauge section, with a triaxiality and
Lode parameter 0 [43]. In the cylindrical bar tensile sample
(Fig. 1e) again very soon after the onset of plastic deformation triax-
ialities higher than 1/3 appear in the gauge section.
TagedPThe sheet samples are cut by means of electrical discharge
machining. For the tensile, plane strain and shear tests, samples are
taken in the rolling direction. Tensile and torsion samples are
machined out of the extruded Ti6Al4V bar along the axial direction.
2.2. Experimental programme
TagedP2.2.1. Mechanical tests
TagedPThe experimental programme consists of static and high
(500
1500 s¡1) strain rate tests at room temperature. The static
Ò
tests are carried using a universal Instron test machine with a
50 kN loadcell (Fig. 2a). Split Hopkinson bar (SHB) tensile [44] and
torsion setups [45] are used for the dynamic experiments. The small
dimensions of the samples in Fig. 1 guarantee quasi-static equilib-
rium from the early stage of loading in the dynamic experiments. To

Fig. 1. Overview of sample geometries used for static and high strain rate experiments. Left, the three sheet samples are presented denoted as in-plane shear (a), in-plane tensile
(b) and plane strain (c), right the two bulk samples torsion (d) and cylindrical tensile (e). Samples (a), (b), (c) and (e) are loaded in tension, sample (d) in torsion. The shaded zones
are used to glue the sheet samples in the setup.
 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388
TagedPexclude effects related to geometry or dimensions of the samples
[42,46], the samples presented in Fig. 1 are used for both the static
and dynamic experiments.
TagedPFor the dynamic tests, the sheet samples are glued in slots made
in the Hopkinson bars, the bar tensile samples are screwed between
the Hopkinson bars. To have the same boundary conditions in the
static and dynamic tests, in the static tests the samples are also glued
in slots of or screwed between short bars with the same diameter
and material as the Hopkinson bars. A typical setup for the static
experiments can be seen in Fig. 2b where an in-plane tensile sample
Ò
in the Instron test bench is presented. The torsion samples have
hexagonal flanges which fit in sockets machined in the Hopkinson
bars.
TagedPDuring the static experiments the sample deformation is mea-
sured using three LVDTs, see Fig. 2. Additionally, a speckle pattern is
applied to the sample surface which is recorded during the tests
with two cameras: one captures images at a relatively high spatial
resolution (1024*1024), but at a low framerate (1 fps), the other
camera is a high speed camera that captures the deformation during
the short period the sample is failing at a high framerate (between
25,000 and 70,000 fps), but with a much lower resolution (typically
512*128).
TagedPFor the dynamic tests, Kolsky's theory is used to obtain the force-
displacement or torque-rotation histories of the samples respec-
tively subjected to a tensile [44] or torsional [47] loading. As for the
static tests, a speckle pattern is applied to the sample which is
recorded by high speed cameras. The images are processed by the
Ò
commercial digital image correlation (DIC) software MatchID to
obtain the evolving strain field in the samples during the tests [48].
Close to the fracture large strain gradients occur which give rise to
heavily distorted speckle patterns. As a result, the obtained DIC
strain might underestimate the actual strain value.
TagedP2.2.2. Post mortem fracture characterisation
TagedPAfter mechanical testing, the fracture surfaces are extensively
studied. The cross-section of the fracture surface Af of the cylindrical
tensile, in-plane tensile and plane strain samples is measured
according to the ASTM-E8M standard to calculate the fracture strain
ɛf using equation ɛf D lnðA0 =Af Þ, in which A0 is the initial cross-sec-
tion. It should be noted that the thus obtained fracture strain is an
averaged value which ignores the large strain gradients in the frac-
ture surface [49]. Unfortunately, because of the small dimensions of
the sheet samples in the thickness direction, relatively large errors
on the determined fracture strain are obtained: for all fracture strain
Fig. 2. Picture of the electromechanical tensile test device used for the static tests (a) and close-up of the specimen glued between bars. Three LVDTs measure the relative dis-
placement of two circular plates. A high resolution camera is positioned in front of the specimen, a high speed camera at the back.
373
TagedPmeasurements the standard deviation rises up to a strain of 7%. For
the cylindrical samples, the standard deviation is limited to 2.7%.
TagedPFor the in-plane shear and torsion samples, the fracture strain is
calculated based on the grain morphology: the shape, or more spe-
cifically the orientation, of the elongated grains is used to quantify
the shear strain [50]. Indeed, as schematically presented in Fig. 3a,
during a simple shear deformation the tensile strain axis rotates.
Denoting the angle between the major strain axis and the shear ori-
entation by u, the relation between the engineering shear strain
g D tan(a) and u can be written as (Fig. 3b):
!
2
u D arctan pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð3Þ
4 C g 2 ¡g
TagedPFor small strains u is 45°. The method is applied to a SEM image of
an in-plane shear and torsion sample as shown in respectively Fig. 3c
and d. Close to the fracture shear strains of g D 0.5
0.7 are found
corresponding with equivalent strains between 0.28 and 0.37 or log-
arithmic shear strains between 0.24 and 0.32 according to [41]:
 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ln 2 C g 2 C g 4 C g 2 ¡ ln 2 C g 2 ¡g 4 C g 2
ðe12 ÞLog D pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð4Þ
2 4 C g2
TagedPThe size and shape of the dimples in the fracture surfaces are
studied by SEM images. Two different techniques are used to esti-
mate the size of the dimples: 1. Jeffries planimetric method recom-
mended by ASTM E112 [51] for which the dimples within a circle of
0.5 mm2 are manually counted and 2. automatic dimple detection
and size calculation by the image processing software ImageJ. SEM
micrographs with a resolution <0.5 mm are used to characterize the
voids in the material close to the fracture surfaces.
3. Numerical modelling
3.1. Finite element model
TagedPTo come to an enhanced interpretation and in-depth understand-
ing of the test results, coupled thermo-mechanical finite element
simulations are carried out. The FE models are also used for the
inverse identification of the material model parameters following a
procedure similar to the one described in [8].
TagedPAll simulations are carried out using the dynamic explicit solver
Ò
provided by the finite element program Abaqus . As mentioned in
Section 2.1, in all tests quasi-static conditions prevail and modelling
of the waves propagating in the entire SHB system can consequently
374 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388

Fig. 3. Deformation of a circle by simple shear (a), orientation of the major strain axis u in simple shear as a function of the shear strain g D tan (a) (b), SEM image of the shear
region near the fracture from in-plane (c) and torsional (d) shear specimen after high strain rate loading. The measured angles u are indicated together with the strain g calculated
using Eq. (3).

TagedPbe omitted. The computational efficiency is furthermore improved
by exploiting the sample symmetry while maintaining the possibil-
ity of an asymmetric failure mode: only one half along the width of
the tensile and plane strain samples are modelled applying appropri-
ate symmetry conditions. To model through-thickness deformation,
including necking, for the sheet samples, along the thickness 6 solid
elements of type C3D8R (i.e. a 8-node linear brick making use of
reduced integration with hourglass control) are used instead of com-
putationally more efficient plane stress elements. For the torsion and
cylindrical tensile samples, CAX4R elements (axisymmetric quadri-
lateral elements with reduced integration) are used. For all samples
similar element sizes are used: typically 0.1 mm in the gauge section
gradually evolving to 0.15 mm in the transition zones or shoulders
of the sample. It has been checked that the mesh size is sufficiently
small to have mesh independent stress-strain curves up to the point
of necking. More details on mesh densities can be found in [8]. The
experimental, linear or rotational velocity histories are imposed at
one end of the sample.
TagedPIn which s y is the yield stress, ɛp the true equivalent plastic strain,
ɛ_ p the plastic strain rate, ɛ_ 0 a reference value of the strain rate, T the
temperature, Tmelt the melting temperature and Troom the room tem-
perature. A, B, C, n and m are material parameters. At high strain
rates the experiments are considered adiabatic and plastic work con-
verted into heat results in a significant increase of the sample tem-
perature. At sufficiently low strain rates, heat is dissipated to the
environment and isothermal conditions can be assumed. The transi-
tion between isothermal/non-isothermal and adiabatic deformation
occurs at relatively low strain rates compared with other materials
because of the low heat conductivity and mass density of the
Ti6Al4V. Sample heating is taken into account in the parameter fit-
ting procedure using the thermal model presented in [9].
TagedPIn Table 2 two parameter sets -one for the sheet and one for the
bar- are presented determined using the procedure described in [8].
The thus obtained JC parameters lie within the range of values found
in [5,6,9,52].
TagedPThe fracture behaviour of the Ti-sheet is modelled using the
phenomenological Johnson
Cook damage initiation criterion

Table 2
3.2. Material models Elastic properties and parameters used for the Johnson
Cook hardening law for
the Ti6Al4V sheet and bar material.
TagedPTo describe the mechanical behaviour of Ti6Al4V, J2-plasticity is E (GPa) n ɛ_ 0 (1 s¡1) Troom (°C) Tmelt (°C)
adopted with strain rate and temperature dependent, isotropic hard-
ening given by the Johnson
Cook (JC) hardening law [33]: Sheet & bar 117 0.3 1 20 1653
A (MPa) B (MPa) n C m
h i ɛ_
 
T¡Troom m
 
Sheet 951 892 0.70 0.015 0.71
s y D A C Bnp 1 C C ln p 1¡ ð5Þ Bar 895 477 0.38 0.011 0.86
ɛ_ 0 Tmelt ¡Troom
 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388 375

TagedPcomplemented with a damage evolution law. For the bar material, TagedP olume fraction f*:
v
the measured void densities are taken into consideration and a !  
s 2eq q2 s h
gðs ij ; f Þ D 
¡1¡q3 ðf  Þ D 0
physically based Gurson-type failure model is used. 2
C 2q f cosh ð9Þ
s 2y 2 sy
1

TagedP3.2.1. Johnson
Cook damage criterion with s y the yield stress of the material without voids, q1, q2 and q3
TagedPThe phenomenological Johnson
Cook ductile damage initia- are model parameters which determine its shape [32].
tion criterion, based on the model used to predict fracture strain TagedPThe rate of void growth is obtained by assuming mass conserva-
presented in [30], has certain aspects in common with the JC tion and depends on the volume change part of the plastic strain.
hardening model. Indeed, the effect of three important parame- Consequently, there is no void growth in pure shear deformation.
ters -stress triaxiality h, strain rate and temperature- on the frac- The void nucleation depends on the equivalent plastic strain ɛp, here
ture strain is described independently in a multiplicative fashion. a normal distribution A is used:
Damage is initiated when condition (6) is met, using the equiva-
lent plastic strain at onset of damage ɛf0 under the current con- f_ D f_ growth C f_ nucl
ditions of strain rate, temperature and stress triaxiality f_
growth D ð1¡f Þ_ɛ p
calculated with expression (7):
ii
  ! ð10Þ
fN 1 ɛp ¡ɛN 2
Z f_ nucl D Aɛp with A D exp ¡
dɛp sN 2 sN
D1 ð6Þ
ɛf 0
where єN and sN are respectively the average nucleation strain and
    the standard deviation. The amount of nucleating voids is controlled
ɛ_ p T¡Troom
ɛf 0 D ½d1 C d2 expð¡d3 hÞ 1 C d4 ln 1 C d5 ð7Þ by the parameter fN.
ɛ_ 0 Tmelt ¡Troom
TagedPThe last phase in ductile fracture comprises void coalescence into
TagedPThe JC criterion given by Eqs. (6) and (7) only predicts initia- the final fracture. Here again, different models exist to predict when
tion of damage. An additional progressive material degradation voids coalesce. An often used simple model uses a critical void frac-
model is implemented which considers damage induced soften- tion fc: as long as the real void fraction is below the critical void frac-
ing of the yield stress as well as degradation of the elastic stiff- tion, the virtual f* and real void fraction f are equal, once the critical
ness proportional with (1-d). For the damage parameter d, an void fraction is reached, the virtual void fraction f*, used in Eq. (9) is
exponential damage accumulation evolution based on the energy changed into a much higher value given by Eq. (11). This causes soft-
Gf dissipated per unit area during the damage process is adopted ening of the material and accelerated growth of the void fraction f*
[53,54]: until the fracture void fraction fF is reached. At this moment the
 Z up 
s y dup material is fractured.
d D 1¡exp ¡ ð8Þ 8 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Gf
<f
> if f f c
0
q1 C q21 ¡q3
in which up D Lɛp is the equivalent plastic displacement defined with f D f F ¡f c with f F D ð11Þ
>
:fc C if f c < f < f F q3
the characteristic length of the element and s y the yield stress of the f F ¡f c
damaged material. Using a stress-displacement response rather than
TagedPApplication of this model requires knowledge of 9 parameters:
a stress-strain response reduces the mesh dependency of the results.
three model parameters (q1, q2 and q3), the initial void fraction f0,
The equivalent plastic displacement up is the fracture work conju-
three void nucleation parameters (єN, sN and fN), two failure parame-
gate of the yield stress s y after the onset of damage. Eq. (8) guaran-
ters (fc and fF). The value of the parameters for the Ti6Al4V bar,
tees that the energy dissipated during the failure process is equal to
together with their meaning, can be found in Table 4. These values
Gf [54].
are based on both literature data, microscopic observations and test
TagedPThe parameters d1, d2, d3, d4 and d5 needed for Eq. (7) can be
results.
found in Table 3. Starting from values for Ti6Al4V found in [34], the
parameters are optimized following an iterative scheme similar to
the one described in [8] using the static and dynamic test results for 4. Experimental observations
the in-plane shear, tensile and plane strain sheet samples. The same
values for the reference strain rate ɛ_ 0 and room temperature Troom 4.1. Sheet material
are used in Eqs. (5) and (7), see Table 2. It is found that the value of
the fracture energy Gf has an important influence on the fracture
TagedP4.1.1. Force-displacement
morphology, more specifically whether or not a slant or straight
TagedPRepresentative static and dynamic stress-strain or stress-dis-
fracture is obtained in the tensile experiments. A satisfactory agree-
placement curves for the shear, tensile and plane strain tests on the
ment between the simulations and the experiments is obtained
sheet Ti6Al4V are shown in Fig. 4. Engineering stresses are obtained
using GfD50mJ/mm2.
by dividing the measured force by the initial gauge section, the

TagedP3.2.2. Gurson
Tvergaard
Needleman model

Table 4
TagedPIn the Gurson
Tvergaard
Needleman (GTN) model [55], a mate- Dimensionless parameters for the GTN model for the bar Ti6Al4V.
rial with randomly distributed voids is idealised as a porous material
in which the hydrostatic part of the stress also affects yielding [56]. Parameter Meaning Source Value

A strong coupling between deformation and damage is introduced q1 Shape of yield surface Ref. [57] 1.5
[29] by a plastic potential function which is dependent on the void q2 Shape of yield surface Ref. [57] 1
q3 Shape of yield surface Ref. [57] 2.25
f0 Initial void fraction Microscopy 0.0005
Table 3
fN Void nucleation rate Optimised 0.008
Values used for the Johnson
Cook damage initiation criterion for the Ti6Al4V
fc Critical void fraction Microscopy 0.02
sheet.
fF Failure void fraction Estimation 0.2
d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 eN Void nucleation strain Microscopy 0.25
SN Standard deviation on void nucleation Estimation 0.025
¡0.078 0.282 0.479 0.029 3.87 strain
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388

Fig. 4. Representative static and dynamic stress-strain or stress-displacement curves for shear (a), tensile (b) and plane strain (c) tests on the Ti6Al4V sheet, together with the
local strain obtained by DIC. The DIC fracture strain is indicated by a dot.

TagedPaverage engineering strain in the tensile test by dividing the relative TagedP4.1.2. Fracture morphology and mechanism
displacement of the bar/sample interfaces by the initial gauge TagedPIn the static tensile experiments on the GL50 samples, diffuse
length. The local, logarithmic DIC strain in the centre of the gauge necking is followed by localized necking, as schematically repre-
section is represented on the secondary vertical axis of the graphs. sented in Fig. 5a [58]. The diffuse necking involves contraction in
From Fig. 4 it is clear that the strain rate significantly affects both both the width and thickness directions. During localised necking
stress and deformation levels. At high strain rates, engineering the sample thins without further width contraction and the material
curves of Fig. 4 all show higher yield stresses, though lower global surrounding the localised neck remains quasi-rigid. The width of the
fracture elongations. Local strain values, however, give a slightly dif- localised neck is roughly equal to the sample thickness, conse-
ferent view. Indeed, the strain is more localized in the dynamic tests: quently the total sample elongation after localised necking is very
for a certain displacement or engineering strain, a larger local strain limited [58,59]. Fracture follows soon because of the considerable
is reached at higher strain rates. As a result, for the plane strain sam- increase of the equivalent strain within the localised neck. In most
ple of Fig. 4c, even though the fracture elongation is lower at high GL50 samples, the entire fracture follows the localised band. How-
strain rates, a higher fracture strain is obtained. For the shear and ever, in few GL50 samples (Fig. 5b) and also in all the in-plane tensile
tensile experiment the local fracture strains are still lower at high samples of Fig. 1 (Fig. 5c), only at the edges the fracture surface is
strain rates. aligned with the localised neck, in the centre of the sample the frac-
TagedPIn Table 5 average values of the fracture strains for all tests are ture surface is oriented in the transverse direction. The localized
given, measured following the procedures described in Section 2.2.2. necks in Fig. 5b and c are inclined over §54.7° which corresponds
The values given in Table 5 confirm the trends observed in Fig. 4. with the angle reported for isotropic materials [58]. The majority of
the tensile samples exhibits a slant fracture in the transverse crack
and a flat fracture in the inclined cracks. In some samples, the trans-
Table 5 verse crack is V-shaped over the thickness. In [29] a list of conditions
Average equivalent fracture strains for the sheet and bar Ti6Al4V promoting slant fracture is given including (1) low strain hardening
observed under different test conditions. of the material, (2) small sample thickness and (3) high loading rates.
Sheet Bar The first two are applicable to the Ti6Al4V sheet considered here, the
last one also for the high strain rate tests.
Shear Tensile Plane strain Shear Tensile
TagedPIn Fig. 6 high speed images (framerate of 42,000 fps) are pre-
Static 0.44 0.48 0.21 0.48
sented in which the fracture initiation is captured in a static (left)
Dynamic 0.3 0.42 0.24 0.33 0.62 and dynamic (right) experiment on in-plane tensile samples. The
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388 377

Fig. 5. Schematic presentation of diffuse and localised necking in a sheet tensile sample [58] (a), GL50 tensile samples after static testing (b) and small tensile samples (Fig. 1b)
after high strain rate testing (c).

TagedPhigh speed images show the two stage fracture process: first, a
transverse crack is formed in the centre of the sample, during some
time this crack remains stable while inclined localised necks develop
at both sides of the crack, finally, also the material in the localised
neck fails. There is no significant difference in fracture mechanism
between the statically and dynamically loaded samples. In all tensile
tests, fracture propagation takes less than 0.35 ms which corre-
sponds with a crack speed higher than 5 m s¡1.
TagedPFracture propagation in the in-plane shear and plane strain sam-
ples is faster than in the in-plane tensile samples. High speed camera
measurements at a framerate of 70,000 fps show that in the shear
tests, fracture is completed in between two frames, so within maxi-
mum 14 ms, which corresponds with a fracture propagation speed of
at least 200 m s¡1. The shear fracture surface is oriented in the direc-
tion of the load and is perpendicular to the sample plane (Fig. 7a).
The fracture surface in a plane strain tests is always perpendicular to
the tensile direction (Fig. 7b).
TagedPAlthough, the location of fracture initiation is not experimentally
identified in the shear and plane strain tests, it is reasonable to
assume that also in these samples fracture is initiated in the centre
of the gauge section. Indeed, in the shear sample, significantly higher
strains are reached in the centre of the gauge section compared to
the notches [41]. In the plane strain sample, both the plastic strain
and triaxiality in the centre of the gauge section are significantly
higher than at the notch boundaries.
TagedP4.1.3. Fracture surface
TagedPRegardless of the loading mode, all SEM images of the fracture
surfaces, clearly reveal dimples indicative of ductile fracture. In the
in-plane tensile samples, the entire fracture surface is covered by
equiaxed dimples and no differences are observed between the dim-
ples in the transverse part of the fracture and in the inclined fracture
at the borders.
TagedPIn Fig. 8 the fracture surface, including details with a higher
amplification, of a dynamically loaded shear sample is presented.
Compared to the tensile samples, larger and elongated dimples are
present in the centre of the sample. Obviously, the elongated shape
is the result from the imposed shear deformation. The larger dimple
size indicates a lower amount of void nucleation sites in shear. On
the other hand, near the left border the dimples are only slightly
elongated and have approximately the same size as in the tensile
test. This observation supports the hypothesis that fracture initiates
in the centre of gauge section. Indeed, a fracture in the centre give
rise to a dominant tensile stress state near the edges. The dimple-
free zone in the bottom right Fig. 8 is the result of rubbing of the
fracture surfaces against each other. Fig. 9 shows the fracture surface
of a statically loaded shear sample. Compared to the dynamically
loaded sample of Fig. 8, the dimples are smaller and less elongated.
At first sight, it seems contradictory that the dimples are smaller and
less elongated in the static sample while a higher fracture strain is
established. The formation of an adiabatic shear band (ASB) in which

Fig. 6. Fracture initiation in the in-plane tensile sample presented in Fig. 1b during a static (a) and a dynamic tensile (b) test.
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388

Fig. 7. Fracture in dynamically loaded shear sample of Fig. 1a (a) and plane strain sample of Fig. 1c (b).

TagedPlocally very high strains are reached in the high strain rate test is a
plausible explanation for this observation. However, since the shear
band is very narrow [10], the strain in the band is not captured by
the techniques described in Section 2.2.2 used to calculate the frac-
ture strain given in Table 5. Indeed, the strain in Table 5 can be inter-
preted as the macroscopic strain just before the shear band
initiation.
TagedPThe fracture surface of a dynamically loaded plane strain sample
is shown in Fig. 10. In comparison with the tensile test, the dimples
are less elongated and subdimples can be distinguished within the
larger dimples.
TagedPIn Table 6 the measured average size and area of the dimples are
given. The smallest dimples are observed in the tensile sample,
slightly larger dimples in the plane strain sample. The largest dim-
ples appear in the dynamic shear sample, however, smaller dimples
might be erased during deformation. It is interesting to note that the
TagedP ndeformed grain size, measured with Jeffries method, is 10.9 mm.
u
The tensile and plane strain dimples are thus smaller than the
grains.
TagedP4.1.4. Voids
TagedPThe influence of strain rate and loading mode on the occurrence
and distribution of voids is studied by SEM images taken close to the
fracture surface. In Fig. 11 micrographs of in-plane shear, in-plane
tensile and plane strain samples close to the fracture surface are pre-
sented. Clearly, the number of voids is significantly affected by the
stress state obtained in the different samples: almost no voids are
observed in the shear sample, a lot of voids in the in-plane tensile
sample and a limited number in the plane strain sample.
TagedPAlthough, in the shear samples, because of their elongated shape,
not all voids might have been revealed by the SEM micrographs,
the lower amount of voids corresponds with the observed larger

Fig. 8. Fracture surface of a sheet shear sample (Fig. 1a) after dynamic loading with higher magnification images taken near the edge (bottom left), closer to the centre (bottom
centre) and rubbed region at the other edge (bottom right). The arrows indicate the shear direction; the displacement direction of the pictured specimen part is opposite to the
arrows.
 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388
Fig. 9. Fracture surface of a sheet shear sample (Fig. 1a) after static loading: near the centre (1), closer to the edge (2) and (3).
TagedPdimples in the fracture surface. Additionally, the SEM micrographs of
dynamically loaded shear samples also show a narrow band below
the fracture surface in which no grains can be distinguished. This
observation supports the hypothesis that failure in the dynamic
shear samples is preceded by strain localisation in an ASB.
TagedPNo qualitative differences between the voids occurring in the
quasi-static and dynamically loaded samples are noticed. Most of
the voids nucleate at the a/b boundaries. Many examples of hetero-
geneously distributed voids are found. In Fig. 12 clusters of 4 or
more voids within an area of approximately 10 mm are marked.
These voids nucleate at one or two grain boundaries. The heteroge-
neous void distribution might encourage early void coalescence.
Fig. 10. Fracture surface of a plane strain sample (Fig. 1c) after dynamic loading.
379
ITagedP ndeed, in the clusters, a limited growth of the voids is sufficient for
coalescence. Many examples of interacting voids are found in the
micrographs of the tensile and plane strain samples. The orientation
of the cracks formed by void coalescence is mostly perpendicular to
the loading direction.
TagedPTo come an in-depth understanding of the effect of the stress
state, on the SEM images voids >§0.3 mm are scanned and system-
atically analysed, using the image processing software ImageJ. The
shear tests are not considered in the analysis, because the limited
number of voids in these tests does not allow a reliable statistical
interpretation. Values for the void fraction, number of voids per area
unit and average void size within a distance of 100 mm to the frac-
ture surface are presented in Fig. 13a for in-plane tensile versus
plane strain tests and in Fig. 13b for static versus dynamic samples.
TagedPAn average void fraction of §0.5% is reached in the 100 mm zone
adjacent to the fracture surface of the tensile samples. As is already
clear in Fig. 12, in the plane strain samples the void fraction, and
since the average void size is very similar to the one in the tensile
samples, also the number of voids is much smaller. The strain in the
plane strain sample at fracture is approximately half the value in
tensile samples. Between the static and dynamic tests only limited
differences in void characteristics are found, see Fig. 12b: the num-
ber of voids is slightly lower in the dynamic tests, though the
Table 6
Average dimple size dav in the fracture surfaces of the dynamic shear, in-plane
tensile and plane strain samples measured with Jeffries planimetric method and
ImageJ.
Shear
centre Shear
edge Tensile Plane strain
dav (mm) Jeffries 14 7.7 5.5 6.0
dav (mm) ImageJ 14.9/9.4
4.7/3.3 6.2/3.7
average/median
380 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388

Fig. 11. SEM micrographs of sheet Ti6Al4V samples close to the fracture loaded in shear (a), tensile (b) and plane strain (c). The magnification used for the shear sample is higher
than for the other samples.

TagedPaverage void size is larger. In the dynamic tests, the voids are more
concentrated around the fracture.
TagedPMore information on the local void distribution is obtained by con-
sidering strips of 25 mm width, parallel to the fracture surface. In each
of these band-like regions, the number, density and average size of
the voids is calculated. In order to increase the statistical significance
of the results, again average values for all the available samples are
calculated. Fig. 14 show the void characteristics as a function of the
distance from the crack in the in-plane tensile (a) and plane strain
samples (b). For both the tensile and plane strain samples, the void
fraction near the fracture is §0.6
0.7%. The highest void fraction mea-
sured in an in-plane tensile sample is 1.1%. Also for the plane strain
samples relatively low failure void fractions are found. This might be
related to the technique used to measure the voids which does not
capture voids with dimensions smaller than 0.3 mm. However, as men-
tioned earlier, because of the heterogeneous void distribution, locally
void fractions significantly higher than the average values are found
which might give rise to early void coalescence at these locations.
TagedPIn the tensile samples next to large voids, many small voids are
observed. In the plane strain samples fewer, though larger voids are
present. Further away from the fracture, the number of voids and
void fraction decreases rapidly. This is most pronounced for the
plane strain sample. Beyond 100 mm, the number of voids is below
one fourth of the maximum and the void fraction is under 0.1%. If
the spatial distribution of void density, void fraction and void size is
compared between static and dynamic samples, the effect of the
sTagedP train rate is not very pronounced. Only the void distribution is
slightly more localised in dynamically loaded samples.
4.2. Bar material
TagedPIn Fig. 15 (top) a representative high strain rate tensile curve is
presented for the cylindrical sample of Fig. 1e. Compared to the in-
plane tensile sheet samples (Fig. 4b), the stress levels are slightly
lower, which is not that surprising since the chemical composition
and the microstructure of the sheet and bar material are not exactly
the same. In all samples a cup-and-cone fracture is observed; corre-
sponding values of the fracture strain can be found in Table 5.
Because of rebound of the bars used to grip the cylindrical tensile
sample in the static tensile test device (Section 2.2.1), most of the
fracture surfaces are damaged after testing and no reliable fracture
strains are obtained for the static tests. From Table 5, it is clear that
the fracture strain in the cylindrical tensile samples is significantly
higher than in the in-plane tensile sample: 0.62 vs. 0.45. The cup-
and-cone fracture surfaces of statically (0.001 s¡1) and dynamically
(750 s¡1) loaded tensile samples are shown in Fig. 16. Dimples are
formed in both samples, however, differences can be noted between
the two fracture surfaces: in the dynamic sample, the shape of the
dimples is better outlined and the dimples are larger. The dimples in
the fracture surfaces of the dynamically loaded bar and sheet sam-
ples are very similar.

Fig. 12. Examples of heterogeneously distributed voids in tensile samples: front view of sheet sample (a), side view of sheet sample (b) and front view of cylindrical sample (c).
Red markers indicate void clusters. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388 381

Fig. 13. Comparison of fracture strain and void characteristics averaged over a region within a distance of 100 mm from the fracture. Void fraction, number of voids per unit area
and average void size are represented in tensile and plane strain sheet samples (a) and comparison between all static and dynamic tests, shear tests excluded (b).

TagedPIn the cylindrical tensile samples, many void clusters appear in
columns oriented in the direction of the elongated grains, see
Fig. 12c. These voids are not likely to coalesce because of their rela-
tive orientation to the loading direction, which might contribute to
the higher fracture strain of the bar material compared to the sheet
material. Analysis of the voids close to the fracture surface of the
cylindrical tensile samples shows the maximum void fraction is
around 2%, which is two times higher than in the sheet sample.
TagedPIn Fig. 17 (top) a torsion curve is given. Here again, lower stress
levels are obtained compared to the dynamic in-plane shear test
(Fig. 4a). The bar shear fracture strains are, for the static as well as
for the dynamic tests, slightly higher compared to the in-plane shear
tests. Fig. 18 shows the fracture surface of a dynamically deformed
torsion sample. The location where the fracture has initiated is indi-
cated with white arrows. Large regions of the fracture surface are
destroyed by rubbing of the two fractured parts; in the non-dam-
aged regions dimples are present.
5. Numerical simulations
5.1. Sheet material with Johnson
Cook hardening and damage
TagedPIn Fig. 21 simulated stress-strain or force-displacement curves for
a statically loaded GL50 sample (a), a dynamically loaded in-plane
tensile sample (b) and a dynamically loaded shear sample (c) using
tTagedP he FE model described in Section 3 are presented, together with the
simulated and experimental fracture morphology. An excellent
quantitative and qualitative agreement between the experiments
and simulations is obtained. Indeed, next to the stress-strain
response also the specific features of the fracture process are cap-
tured by the simulation: the X-shaped strain localisation which pre-
cedes fracture in the GL50 sample (Fig. 21a), the mixed transverse-
inclined fracture in the in-plane tensile samples (Fig. 21b) and the
straight crack aligned with the tensile direction in the in-plane shear
sample (Fig. 21c).
5.2. Bar material with Johnson
Cook hardening and
Gurson
Tvergaard
Needleman damage
TagedPFig. 15 shows an experimental and two simulated stress-strain
curves for a dynamic (average strain rate of 420 s¡1) tensile test on a
cylindrical sample. In both simulations, for the material JC hardening
is considered with the parameters given in Table 2, in one simulation
additionally the GTN failure model is activated with the parameters
of Table 4. Results of the latter correspond very well with the tests.
Also contour plots of the plastic strain distribution at different stages
in the experiment are shown: both the strain at the onset of fracture
and the fracture pattern are well-predicted.
TagedPSimulated and experimental stress-strain curves for a dynamic
(average g_ D § 1400) torsion test on a thin-walled tube are shown

Fig. 14. Distribution of void density, void fraction and void size as a function of the distance from the fracture surface for the sheet tensile (a) and plane strain (b) samples.
382 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388

Fig. 15. Experimental and simulated stress-strain curves of a dynamic tensile test on a cylindrical sample (top) and distribution of the plastic equivalent strain in the sample at the
stages indicated on the top graph (bottom). For the simulations Johnson
Cook hardening is used with the GTN failure model, however, also the stress-strain curve without GTN
damage is presented.

TagedPin Fig. 17. Also, the plastic strain distribution in the torsion sample at
three different moments is represented: the strain gradually local-
ises around the central section of the gauge until, finally, only the
central elements are further deforming. Here again, simulations
with and without GTN failure model are performed. In both models,
the strain eventually localises, however, without the GTN failure
strain localisation occurs at higher levels of deformation. As is clear
from Fig. 17, both simulations overestimate the strain: even if GTN
damage is activated, locally, plastic strains of almost 500% are
obtained in the shear band. The low triaxiality in the torsion samples
retards void growth, the increase of void fraction is mainly attrib-
uted to void nucleation. The critical value of 2% voids to start void
coalescence is not reached in the simulation. Consequently, the GTN
model itself does not predict failure of the torsion sample. In the
simulation, the torsion sample loses its load carrying capacity due to
strain localization caused by thermal softening. Voids in the mate-
rial, considered by the GTN model, accelerate the strain localization.
6. Analysis and discussion
TagedPIn Section 4 clear evidence is given that the fracture properties
are affected by the stress state which can be quantified by the stress
triaxiality and Lode parameter, see Section 2.1. Since, for the plane
sTagedP tress and axisymmetric samples considered in this study, the Lode
parameter can either be written as a function of the stress triaxiality
or is constant, further analysis of the results will focus on the triaxi-
ality only. Fig. 20 shows the simulated evolutions of the plastic
equivalent strain and stress triaxiality in the centre of the gauge sec-
tions -where fracture is assumed to initiate- of the samples pre-
sented in Fig. 1, together with the experimental fracture strains.
From the figure it is clear that not only the triaxiality at fracture, but
also the triaxiality evolution affects the strain reached at fracture.
Indeed, at fracture similar values of the stress triaxiality are reached
in the tensile and plane strain samples, however, the tensile fracture
strain is more than double the fracture strain in plane strain condi-
tions.
TagedPUsing the parameters of Table 3, also the Johnson
Cook damage
initiation strain (Eq. (7)) is represented in Fig. 20. Two curves can be
found: a static curve calculated for a strain rate of 0.0007 s¡1 and
temperature of 293 K, and a dynamic curve considering a strain rate
of 1000 s¡1 and temperature of 350 K. The temperature of 350 K is
used to account for the temperature increase in dynamically
deformed samples due to adiabatic heating. Obviously, the tempera-
ture evolution till the onset of damage differs from sample to sam-
ple, however, a value of 350 K gives an average in line with data
found in [9]. Compared with the experimental fracture strains, the
 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388
Fig. 16. Fracture surface of cylindrical tensile sample after static (a) and dynamic test (b).
TagedPJohnson
Cook fracture initiation strain curves do not follow the
same trends. Indeed, the significantly higher fracture strains for the
tensile samples are not captured. Also, the influence of the strain
rate is not properly described over the entire triaxiality region. Of
course, and as opposed to the interpretation in the original paper of
Johnson and Cook [30], the JC strain values in Fig. 20 only predict
onset of damage and are as such not equal to the fracture strain. In
the FE models for the sheet samples, after onset of damage, the dam-
age evolution is described by Eq. (8) in which, as mentioned in Sec-
tion 3.2, Gf as a crucial parameter. A good agreement between
simulations and experiments, including the fracture morphology,
can only be achieved if a relatively high value for Gf (50mJ/mm2) is
used. The high value for Gf results in a long path from damage initia-
tion to fracture.
TagedPThe FE simulations shed new light on the microscopic observa-
tions. The lower number of voids close to the fracture in the plane
strain samples compared to the tensile samples seems to conflict
with the observation of similar dimple sizes in all fracture surfaces,
see Table 6. However, because of the constantly changing width of
the gauge section of the plane strain samples, high strain gradients
383
TagedP xist close to the fracture. The simulations reveal that this is also the
e
case in the in-plane tensile samples, as can be seen in Fig. 21 which
shows a light optical micrograph of a dynamic in-plane tensile sam-
ple together with the simulated strain distribution at the crack front.
At the crack, an equivalent plastic strain of 0.50 is reached, at a dis-
tance of 350 mm from the crack, the strain drops to 0.25. The insert
of Fig. 21 presents the measured void fraction as a function of the
strain. From these microscopic observations it follows that only very
few voids are present beyond 350 mm. Obviously, for the in-plane
tensile samples, a strain of §0.25 seems to be required for the nucle-
ation of voids. The existence of a void incubation strain with a value
similar or even lower than 0.25 can explain the very low and rapidly
decreasing void fractions observed in the material adjacent to the
fracture in plane strain samples. Indeed, plane strain samples fail at
a strain of §0.25 and, because of the strong strain gradients, the
material next to the fracture is subjected strains significantly lower
strains than 0.25. The notion of incubation strain is in line with the
analysis presented in [60], and is also reflected in the JC damage ini-
tiation strain (Eq. (7)) and the GTN void nucleation rate (Eq. (10)).
Moreover, Eq. (10) gives a statistical distribution for the void
384 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388

Fig. 17. Experimental and simulated stress-strain curves of a dynamic torsion test on a thin-walled tubular specimen (top) and distribution of the plastic equivalent strain in the
sample at the stages indicated on the top graph (bottom). For the simulations Johnson
Cook hardening is used with the GTN failure model, however, also the stress-strain curve
without GTN damage is presented.

Fig. 18. Fracture surface of torsion sample after dynamic deformation.

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388 385

Fig. 19. Comparison of experimental and simulated stress-strain (or force-displacement) curves and fracture patterns in a static tensile test with GL50 specimen (only half the
specimen is simulated, the other part is mirrored) (a), dynamic in-plane tensile test (b) and dynamic in-plane shear test (c). The simulation contour plots represent plastic equiva-
lent strain (PEEQ) values.

TagedPnucleation strain whereby voids can nucleate from the early stages rTagedP ather than damage. The simulations show that voids favour strain
of deformation till fracture. The presence of many small voids in the localization and thus affect failure of the material, which confirms
tensile samples shows that this is indeed the case in real deforma- the experimental observations published in [14].
tion processes. TagedPIn the plane strain sample, on the contrary, no localization of the
TagedPThe simulations also demonstrate the important role of strain strain in bands is observed in both the experiments and simulations.
localization phenomena in the fracture processes. In Fig. 22 the After a strain driven void nucleation, rapid void growth, driven by
simulated plastic strain and triaxiality distributions over the the high triaxiality, results in a void coalescence dominated failure.
thickness around the centre of the in-plane tensile sheet sample The shallow dimples in the fracture surface, together with the rela-
of Fig. 1b just before fracture are presented. Around the centre, tively low fracture strain, indicate a limited plastic deformation of
two 45° inclined bands with localised strains and high triaxial- the ligaments between the voids.
ities are formed. Fracture occurs along these bands which
explains the experimentally observed V-shaped and slant frac-
tures in the tensile samples. In the centre an equivalent strain
close to 0.65 is obtained, which is much higher than the experi-
mental values given in Table 5, which are averaged over the frac-
ture surface. Also the 54.7° localized neck formation at the origin
of fracture in the GL50 samples and in the ligaments next to the
transverse fracture in the samples of Fig. 1b, is captured by the
simulations, see Fig. 19a and b. The fact that, despite the higher
triaxiality (see Fig. 20), significantly higher fracture strains are
observed in the cylindrical tensile samples compared to the
sheet tensile samples, is mainly attributed to the absence of
localised necking in the cylindrical samples. Indeed, in the sheet
tensile samples, strain localization abruptly ends the ductile void
nucleation and growth process which involves high deforma-
tions. The void fraction in the sheet material next to the fracture
is half the value observed in the cylindrical samples.
TagedPAlso in the in-plane shear and torsion samples, strain localization
in ASBs is key to understand the lower fracture strains in the Fig. 20. Simulated evolutions of the plastic equivalent strain and triaxiality at the
dynamic samples. Although, the FE model of the torsion samples location of fracture initiation for the different tests. The experimentally established
fracture strains are indicated with a square. The solid lines represent the damage initi-
could not fully capture the experimental observations (Fig. 17), the
ation strain predicted by the Johnson
Cook damage model for static (strain rate of
simulations are in agreement with the experimental observation 0.0007 s¡1, temperature of 290 K) and dynamic conditions (strain rate of 1000 s¡1,
that strain localisation in a shear band is the precursor to failure temperature of 350 K).
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388

Fig. 21. Front view of a sheet tensile specimen with indication of the simulated plastic equivalent strain as a function of the distance from the fracture surface. The simulation
shows a large plastic strain gradient near the fracture. Insert with the measured void fraction as a function of the plastic strain.

TagedPDetailed analysis of thermal effects in tensile tests on the Ti6Al4V
sheet also considered in this study showed that the strain at the
onset of necking is only indirectly affected by the strain rate via the
sample heating due to plastic work [9]. Due to the high production
of heat, the low heat capacity and low thermal conductivity com-
bined with the pronounced thermal softening of Ti-6Al-4V, sample
heating cannot be neglected. The temperature increase in a sample
is highly dependent on the imposed strain rate, mainly because the
heat transferred to the environment is strongly dependent on the
duration of the test and thus on the strain rate. In [9] it is shown that
isothermal conditions can only be assumed for strain rates below
0.0001 s¡1, adiabatic conditions are met from strain rates as low as
0.01 s¡1. Therefore, in the FE simulations described in Section 5 ther-
mal effects are taken into account. The simulation results show that
also here sample heating has a major effect on strain localization
TagedP nd fracture. This can linked with the experimental observation that
a
at high strain rates, the voids are slightly larger (Fig. 13b) and more
concentrated around the fracture. Indeed, earlier onset of necking
or, more generally, more pronounced strain localization in the
dynamic tests, results in higher triaxialities and thus faster void
growth. Also, other observations in the dynamic test such as the ear-
lier localization of strain in bands in the torsion, in-plane shear and
in-plane tensile tests, can be attributed to thermal softening. All this
might led to the conclusion that also for fracture, the strain rate only
has an indirect impact via the sample heating. However, further
research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.
TagedPThe tests show that test setup related parameters such as sample
geometry have a significant effect on the test results. Different
expressions of the same material behaviour are observed even in
identical loading conditions. Indeed, the three different geometries

Fig. 22. Comparison of the simulated distribution of the plastic strain and stress triaxiality with experimental fracture morphology in a side view of the sheet tensile specimen.
 P. Verleysen and J. Peirs / International Journal of Impact Engineering 108 (2017) 370
388
TagedPused for tensile testing give rise to three different fracture morphol-
ogies: a mixed transverse-54.7° inclined fracture for the small sam-
ples of Fig. 1b, a fracture dominated by the 54.7° neck for GL50
samples and a cup-and-cone fracture for the cylindrical samples of
Fig. 1e. The FE models capture these fracture morphologies and thus
allow to distinguish between intrinsic material behaviour and struc-
tural effects related to sample geometry, boundary conditions and
loading mode.
TagedPMore generally, all the above-mentioned considerations confirm
that the prediction of the fracture characteristics from the material
properties and loading conditions demands for a multilevel approach
based on experimental data and simulations, as stated in [32].
7. Conclusions
TagedPStatic and dynamic experiments are carried out on sheet and bar
Ti6Al4V. Aiming at different stress states, several sample geometries
and loading modes are used: in-plane shear, in-plane tensile and
plane strain sheet samples, and cylindrical tensile and thin-walled
tubular torsion samples from bar material. Post mortem, the fracture
surfaces and material adjacent to the fracture are extensively stud-
ied. Analysis and interpretation of the experimental results is sup-
ported by finite element simulations by which detailed information,
complementary to the test results, is obtained on the stress and
strain distribution close to the fracture, including the loading path
up to the onset of fracture.
TagedPIn all samples, a ductile fracture is obtained. From the analysis it
is clear that strain localization phenomena play a major role in the
fracture process at lower triaxialities. Indeed, in all sheet samples,
except the plane strain, fracture is preceded by localization of the
strain in narrow bands. Also the torsion sample fails by strain local-
ization. Simulations show that thermal softening induced by con-
version of plastic work into heat, is a key element in this
localization process. It is even believed that the strain rate has no
direct effect on the fracture properties, but only via the tempera-
ture increase and thermal softening it brings along. However, fur-
ther research is needed to prove this hypothesis. Analysis of the
dimples in the fracture surface and the voids in the material next
to the fracture, show that void nucleation is mainly driven by strain
and void growth by triaxiality.
TagedPThe obtained test results cannot straightforwardly be linked with
the material behaviour. Indeed, the results reflect the combined
response of test setup and material. Certainly the sample geometry
has a distinct influence on the test results. FE models in conjunction
with appropriate material models, fed and validated by high quality
experiments, are needed to distinguish between intrinsic material
behaviour and setup related response. In present study, for the sheet
Ti6Al4V, the phenomenological Johnson
Cook hardening and dam-
age initiation criterion together with an energy-based law describing
the progressive damage evolution are used in the FE models. For the
bar material, the porous Gurson
Tvergaard
Needleman plasticity
model is adopted, complemented with phenomenological laws for
void nucleation, growth and coalescence. Although both material
models do not capture the full complexity of the fracture process,
the FE simulations reproduce the sample dependent competition
between a pure, ductile void coalescence fracture and a failure by
macroscopic plastic strain localization, whether or not affected by
damage. Also, the interaction between material and sample response
and the importance of thermal softening are revealed by the
approach based on experimental data and simulation.
Acknowledgements
TagedPThe authors would like to acknowledge the Interuniversity
Attraction Poles Program (IUAP) of the Federal Science Policy of
387
TagedP elgium and the partners of IUAP-VII-project P7/21 ‘Multiscale
B
mechanics of interface dominated materials’.
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