The effect of heat treatment on the axial crushing behavior of thin-walled aluminum 6061 alloy tubes is studied in this work. For this purpose, thin-walled grooved specimens were subjected to different aging heat treatments to obtain different work hardening behaviors. Afterward, quasi-static axial compression tests were achieved to evaluate the crushing behavior. Additionally, a finite element method simulation was employed to determine the distributions of stress, strain, and imposed damage during axial compression. Results show that the optimum energy absorption characteristics can be obtained using moderated strain hardening exponent, “n”. Low strain hardening exponent results in the fracture of tube during axial compression while high strain hardening exponent causes lowered absorbed energy. On comparing the results of experiments and finite element method simulations, the fracture of tube during axial compression can be predicted using a simple fracture criterion.
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