A Simple Approach to Performing Large Strain Cyclic Simple Shear Tests: Methodology and Experimental Results

A simple and efficient methodology has been proposed for characterizing the large strain cyclic simple shear behavior of engineering materials. The proposed methodology includes the use of a modified test specimen coupled with a digital image correlation system to measure the evolution of shear strains during cyclic simple shear deformation. The effectiveness and simplicity of the proposed testing procedure for cyclic simple shear testing lie in the fact that it does not require any custom test apparatus or fixtures to conduct cyclic simple shear tests. The proposed test sample for cyclic simple shear testing makes use of conventional tensile machine with standard grips to conduct the tests. Furthermore, the coupling of the digital image correlation system allows for full-field surface strain mapping, enabling measurement of shear strain evolution throughout the cyclic shear deformation, avoiding any complications associated with shear strain measurements using conventional extensometry techniques. The proposed methodology is successfully applied to characterize the large strain cyclic simple shear behavior of extruded aluminum alloy AA6063 in both T4 and T6 tempered conditions. The obtained cyclic simple shear results are further discussed in light of microstructure evolution during cyclic simple shear deformation.