AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY EVALUATING MACROSCOPIC CAVITY INTERACTIONS AS AMODEL OF MICROVOID DUCTILITY

An experimental study of the interactions between macroscopic cavities was conducted The goal was to determine simple cavity arrangements pr oducing deformations similar to commonly observed features of ductile fracture. The production of cavity-centered fracture surface features and ligament thinning, representative of the type observed around and between microvoids on ductile fracture surfaces, were the specific obj ectives of this macroscopic study. The specimens employed were cylindr ical tension specimens containing from one to six coplanar radial hole s, with spherical end profiles, located at the center of the specimen and either zero or one cylindrical hole located on the longitudinal ax is of the specimen. The results of this parametric study identified th e two specimens that best produced the desired features. The load disp lacement results of these experiments also illustrate the effect of ca vity geometry on the net strength and ductility of the array system. S pecimens of these designs provide a future basis for simple and econom ical model studies of void interactions.