Dynamic Plasticity and Fracture of Al 7075 and V95T1 Alloys: High-Velocity Impact Experiments

A novel method to measure dynamic flow stress and corresponding strain rates obtained from Taylor tests using profiled samples with a reduced cylindrical head part was applied to study the dynamic characteristics of similar commercial 7075 and V95T1 aluminum alloys. The measured dynamic flow stress is verified using a classical Taylor’s approach with uniform cylinders and compared with the literature data. Our study shows that the dynamic flow stress of 7075 alloy, which is 786 MPa at strain rates of (4–8) × 103 s−1, exceeds the value of 624 MPa for V95T1 alloy at strain rates of (2–6) × 103 s−1 by 25%. The threshold impact velocity resulting in fracture of the 4 mm head part of the profiled samples is 116–130 m/s for 7075 alloy and only 108 m/s for V95T1 alloy. The fracture pattern is also different between the alloys with characteristic shear-induced cracks oriented at 45° to the impact direction in the case of V95T1 alloy and perpendicular to the breaking off head part in the case of 7075 alloy. On the other hand, the compressive fracture strain of V95T1 alloy, which is 0.29–0.36, exceeds that of 7075 alloy, which is 0.27–0.33, by approximately 8%. Thus, V95T1 aluminum alloy exhibits less strength but is more ductile, while 7075 aluminum alloy exhibits more strength but is simultaneously more brittle.