Fracture assessment of inclined U-notches made of aluminum 2014-T6 under prevalent Mode II loading by means of J-integral

• Prevalent Mode II loading (KII/KI greater than 1) can be made by inclined U-notch.
• The formulae proposed for Jcr evaluation, can be applied under prevalent Mode II.
• Fracture of Al2014-T6 has been assessed with inclined U-notches under prevalent Mode II.
• The mode mixity increases by increasing the notch root radius.

In this paper, the J-integral has been evaluated for specimens with inclined U-notches loaded under a prevalent Mode II (i.e. KII/KI ratio greater than 1). Finite element analyses using ABAQUS software have been applied for evaluation of the J-integral. J = Jcr criterion has been used to predict the critical fracture load. The value of Jcr has been determined by means of some useful formulas available in the literature. Some specimens have been produced by aluminum 2014-T6 with inclined U-notches. The aim of selecting aluminum 2014-T6 is that this material has several applications in aerospace industries such as in aircraft for fittings and wheels, as well as applications in machinery, military and weapons industries. The produced specimens have been tested under prevalent Mode II loading. The results of the critical fracture load predicted numerically are in good agreement with the results obtained experimentally for Al2014-T6.

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