Fracture toughness and influencing factor for 7050 high strength aluminum alloy

To solve the problems in the compact tensile tests of the 7050 high strength aluminum alloy, such as oversized crack angle, low mission success rate and substandard of the fracture toughness, the comparisons were conducted between the traditional process and the modified process. The result shows that the modified process enhances the level of the fracture toughness and the mission success rate. Besides, the reasons of the low mission success rate are shown at two main aspects which are the anisotropy and the length of the precrack. Reducing the level of the anisotropy or increasing the length of the precrack can effectively decrease the crack angle; meanwhile, the reference range of the precrack length is given for 7050 high strength aluminum alloy.