On the relationship between internal porosity and the tensile ductility of aluminium alloy die-castings

This paper describes the application of X-ray tomography to predict the tensile fracture properties of aluminium alloy die-castings containing natural casting defects. A new estimator (Z-project) is presented that can predict the areal fraction of porosity involved during tensile failure to a higher degree of accuracy than conventional methods, which are also discussed. By coupling the proposed estimator with an existing model for the development of plastic instabilities in a deforming body, the tensile fracture strain and tensile fracture stress are predicted with much less error than previous approaches.