A void–crack nucleation model for ductile metals

A phenomenological void crack nucleation model for ductile metals with second phases is described which is motivated from fracture mechanics and microscale physical observations[ The void crack nucleation model is a function of the fracture toughness of the aggregate material\ length scale parameter "taken to be the average size of the second phase particles in the examples shown in this writing#\ the volume fraction of the second phase\ strain level\ and stress state[ These parameters are varied to explore their e}ects upon the nucleation and damage rates[ Examples of correlating the void crack nucleation model to tension data in the literature illustrate the utility of the model for several ductile metals[ Furthermore\ compression\ tensionand torsion experiments on a cast Al Si Mg alloy were conducted to determine void crack nucleation rates under di}erent loading conditions[ The nucleation model was then correlated to the cast Al Si Mg data as well