Deformation of 2024-T3 Aluminum at High Strain Rates

The goal of this project was to study the deformation and failure pattern of 2024-T3 aluminum at high strain rates and to validate the numerical analysis of the aluminum through experimentation. This topic is relevant because of its use in aircraft safety in the event of an onboard explosion. It was hypothesized that a material model incorporating multiple stress-strain curves would be necessary to accurately model this high-velocity metal failure. The study of the aluminum was approached using two different methods. The projectile impact test involved shooting a hardened steel sphere at a clamped plate of the aluminum. Then the ballistic limits of various thicknesses of aluminum and the plate failure patterns could be examined. In the Taylor cylinder test, cylinders of the aluminum were shot at a hardened and immovable disk. The cylinders were measured before and after impact and the deformation was correlated with velocity. As expected, the results from the computer modeling were most closely aligned to the experimental data when a Johnson Cook material model, a model that incorporates differing strain rates into calculating multiple stress-strain curves, was used in the simulation. Therefore, a Johnson Cook model of 2024-T3 aluminum was determined to be a viable source of data when used in modeling this kind of scenario involving high-velocity impacts