Mode I fracture analysis of aluminum-copper bimetal composite using finite element method

The properties of Al-Cu bimetallic composite are investigated employing the finite element method to understand the nature of the composite materials under different loading conditions. In this regard, Al and Cu metallic sheets were implemented to analyze cold-roll bonding (CRB) and to monitor the bonding conditions. After rolling the materials were investigated for their stress distribution and bonding as well as fracture behavior. Finite element investigation was used by the ANSYS software to analyze the stress-strain distribution in the metal layers. The results indicate that the appropriate joining of Al-Al and Al-Cu can be achieved using the CRB process. The stress distribution based on the Von-Mises criterion was calculated and validated by simulation studies. For crack simulations, on the other hand, the results showed that during crack propagation, the materials showed different behaviors owing to the varying properties of Al and Cu. Also, for both the tests, stress distribution in 2D and 3D were simulated, and different stress criteria were obtained and compared. Moreover, optical and scanning electron microscopies were used to study the characteristics of the materials and to support FEM outputs.