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The paper deals with the effect of stress triaxiality on the onset and evolution of damage and fracture in aluminum alloys. Comparison of results of three-dimensional finite element analyses with data obtained from smooth and pre-notched tension and shear specimens leads to a damage criterion formulated in stress space. In addition, a fracture criterion based on critical damage parameters is proposed. Different branches of these functions are taken into account corresponding to different damage and failure modes depending on stress triaxiality and Lode parameter.