TECHNICAL PAPER Tensile Properties and Fractography of Three AA 2000 Series Aluminum Alloys Used for Aerospace Applications G. M. Owolabi 1 • M. Thom 1 • O. O. Ajide 3 • N. Kumar 1 • A. G. Odeshi 2 • G. Warner 1 Received: 25 November 2018 / Accepted: 17 May 2019 Ó The Indian Institute of Metals - IIM 2019 Abstract Aluminum alloys are highly favored in the aerospace and other transportation industries due to their high strength-to-weight ratio. In this study, the tensile properties of commercial AA 2219-T8, AA 2519-T8 and AA 2624-T351 aluminum alloys were investigated and compared. The mechanical behavior of the alloy under uniaxial tensile loading was investigated using the Instron 5569A Test System, while digital image correlation system was, at the same time, used to measure and record the strain as the alloy specimens deformed under mechanical loading. AA 2519-T8 and AA 2624-T351 alloys have superior ultimate tensile strength (UTS) when compared with the UTS of AA 2219-T8 alloys. The UTS of AA 2519-T8 and AA 2624-T351 alloys is comparable. AA 2519-T8 alloy has the highest yield strength of the three alloys. AA 2624 alloy has the highest ductility under tensile load. The three alloys fail by ductile failure with the size of dimples varying from one alloy to the other. Keywords Tensile behavior Á Aluminum alloys Á Fracture mode Á Fractography 1 Introduction The preference of aluminum alloys for aerospace, auto- mobile and armor applications is due to its high strength- to-weight ratio, good corrosion resistance, good formabil- ity, high fatigue resistance, good elastic modulus and desirable impact energy absorption characteristics [1–10]. The high specific strength and modulus of aluminum alloys make them choice materials for aerospace application, in which their low density translates to increased fuel effi- ciency and reduction in NO x gas emissions. The interests of researchers toward the development and characterization of aluminum alloys have been attributed to its immense importance for structural applications by Kumar et al. [11]. Among the Al–Si alloys for aerospace industry, A 380 aluminum alloy has been identified as one of the aluminum alloys that can be enhanced for better performance. Karamouz et al. [12] investigated the effects of lithium additions on the tensile strength, the hardness and the microstructure of A380 aluminum alloy and reported that an addition of up to 0.06% lithium produced significant improvement in the ultimate tensile strength, the % elongation to fracture and hardness of the alloy. In addition, fractographic examination of the fracture surfaces revealed that alloys with lithium additions exhibited ductile dimple and fewer brittle cleavage surfaces. Rejaeian et al. [13] studied the effects of beryllium addition on the microstructure, the hardness and the tensile properties of A 380 aluminum alloy. The study reported that the fracture surfaces of unmodified A 380 alloy specimens showed a brittle fracture, whereas finer and fewer brittle cleavage surfaces were observed in the alloy with beryllium addi- tions. Beryllium content was found to significantly improve the ultimate tensile strength of the alloy. & N. Kumar nikhil.shishodiya@gmail.com 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Howard University, 2300 6th Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon S7N 5N9, Canada 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria 123 Trans Indian Inst Met https://doi.org/10.1007/s12666-019-01731-y