TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 420/1990
By J R Gordon and S J Garwood
Background
This report presents the results of a large test programme undertaken to study ductile fracture in aluminium weldments. The main body of the experimental programme consisted of a series of wide plate tests on 50mm thick welded aluminium alloy panels. In addition to the wide plate tests, tensile and single specimen unloading compliance R-curve tests were conducted on specimens extracted from the various test panels. Through-thickness residual stress distributions in the welded panels were measured experimentally, so that the influence of residual stresses on ductile fracture could be assessed.