Effects of differential hardening on energy absorption prediction of AA6061-T6 thin-walled rectangular tube

In this study, the energy absorption characteristics and deformation modes of AA6061-T6 thin-walled rectangular tube are investigated experimentally and numerically under different crushing conditions, including axial crushing, three-point bending and oblique crushing. Mechanical tests are carried out on four specimens of uniaxial tension, uniaxial compression, shear and plane strain tension along different loading directions for AA6061-T6. Besides, the effect of differential hardening behavior on the energy absorption prediction of AA6061-T6 rectangular tubes is illustrated by comparing Lou2022, von Mises and SY2009 functions. The mechanical experiment results indicate that AA6061-T6 shows obvious anisotropy, differential hardening behavior and tension-compression asymmetry, and its plastic evolution is accurately characterized by the Lou2022 model. The axial crushing properties show that the AA6061-T6 thin-walled rectangular tube undergoes the progressive symmetrical folding deformation mode. The introduction of geometric discontinuity can obviously reduce the peak force and improve the crashworthiness performances under the axial load. The main crushing mode is bending with a small amount of indentation for three-point bending. Moreover, the three-point bending simulation shows that the Lou2022 function considering differential hardening behavior has the highest simulation accuracy. Three different oblique crushing simulations of 10∘, 20∘ and 30∘ illustrate that the AA6061-T6 rectangular tube at 10∘ mainly occurs progressive folding deformation. while the other two oblique crushing angles undergo global buckling deformation. The total energy absorption at 10∘ is 1.87 and 2.43 times of that at 20∘ and 30∘, respectively. The crushing force efficiency of 20∘ and 30∘ is 41.28% and 31.8% lower than that of 10∘, respectively. A comprehensive understanding of the energy absorption performance of AA6061-T6 thin-walled rectangular tube under different crushing conditions is helpful to determine its position and shape as a vehicle safety structure, and to exert its optimal plastic deformation potential to dissipate the collision energy and ensure passenger safety.