Mixed-Mode Fracture Analysis of Aluminum Alloy 5083 Subjected to Four Point Bending

The aim of this research study is to evaluate the stress intensity factors of aluminum 5083 of different thickness subjected to mixed-mode loading. Asymmetric four point bend specimen is a convenient test configuration for estimating mixed-mode fracture properties of engineering materials. In this study, experimental and numerical studies of mixed-mode I/II fracture behavior are presented. The mixed-mode stress intensity factors of the material are evaluated for different location of crack from the middle of the span. Influence of the location of crack from the mean position on the fracture toughness is studied for different specimen thickness. The results obtained are compared with that of the finite element analysis. It is shown that the experimentally determined Stress Intensity Factors goes well with the numerical results.