Numerical Modeling of Aluminum Alloys Fracture for Automotive Applications

Nowadays, finite element analysis assumes a key-role in the automotive industry. Predictivity of FE models has been strongly improved during the last years and the research on this topic involves both industrial and academic fields. The main focus of this paper is the prediction of the failure of aluminum alloys used for extruded components. Material fracture affects the capacity of absorbing energy and the crashworthiness of the structure as well. In extracting the samples directly from the components involved in the crash event, it has been possible to take into account the whole manufacturing process. The methodology has been developed to improve the correlation of the FE models as well as to answer to the industrial requirements.