FAKULTI TEKNOLOGI KEJURUTERAAN

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

ENGINEERING MATERIALS

BETP 1313 SEMESTER 1 SESI 2017/2018

LAB 2: IMPACT TEST

NAME
MATRIX NUMBER
COURSE
SECTION / GROUP
DATE OF LAB
SESSION
DATE OF REPORT
SUBMISSION
NAME OF 1.
INSTRUCTOR 2. EN. ZURAINI BIN ZACHARIAH

EXAMINER’S COMMENT VERIFICATION STAMP

EXPERIMENTS: / 20
RESULTS: / 20
DISCUSSION: / 20
CONCLUSION: / 15
REFERENCES: / 5
QUESTIONS: / 20

TOTAL MARKS: / 100

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1.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of the class, the students should be able to:

1. Explain toughness, ductile vs. brittle fracture and the principle of impact testing
2. Identify ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) from the ductile-to-brittle
transition curve
3. Explain the importance of knowing DBTT of materials

2.0 EQUIPMENTS

1. Impact testing machine.

2. Aluminum alloy rod (D 6mm)
3. Handsaw
4. Vernier caliper

3.0 THEORY

Toughness is a measure of the amount of energy a material can absorb before fracturing. It
becomes of engineering importance when the ability of a material to withstand an impact
load without fracturing is considered. Impact test conditions were chosen to represent
those most severe relative to the potential for fracture, namely, (1) low temperatures (2)
extra loading and high strain rates due to wind or impacts and (3) the effect of stress
concentration (triaxial stress state) such as notches and cracks .

Notched-bar Impact Tests are method for evaluating the relative toughness of
engineering materials. The test measures the energy absorbed by the high strain rate
fracture of a standard notch specimen. It is quick and an economical quality control
method to assess the notch sensitvity and impact toughness of engineering materials.

In the test a notched specimen is broken by the impact of pendulum hammer falling from a
fix height. From the starting height, the initial gravitional potential energy and hence the
kinetic energy with which the hammer impacts the specimen can be calculated. By
recording the height to which the hammer rise after impact, the energy loss can be
calculated. This is the energy absorbed by the fracture of the specimen.

Ductile-to-BrittleTransition (DBTT): The notched-bar impact test also be used to

determine whether or not a material experiences a ductile-to-brittle transition as the
temperature decreased. In such transition, at higher temperatures the impact energy is
relatively large since the fracture is ductile. As the temperature is lowered, the impact
energy drops over a narrow temperature range as the fractures becomes more brittle.

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As the specimen is struck, it undergoes the plastic deformation (if it can) and then fracture.
The transition can also be observed or analyse from the fracture surface of the specimen.

Ductile fracture

The propagation of a ductile crack involves substantial plastic deformation. Ductile

fracture usually gives a characteristic rough fracture surface. Fracture occurs by a process
known as cavities coalescence. First, plastic strain causes small cavities to form in the
material, most often at sites of inclusions. As the process proceeds, these cavities grow and
begin to join together (coalesce) and forming cracks. Final failure occurs when the walls of
material between the growing cracks finally break.

Brittle fracture

Brittle fracture takes place by rapid crack propagation and very little plastic deformation,
and yields a relatively flat fracture surface. For most brittle crystalline materials, crack
propagation corresponds to the successive and repeated breaking of atomic bonds along
specific crystallographic planes.

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4.0 PROCEDURE

SAFETY PRECAUTION:

1. The impact apparatus can cause injury, therefore keep away from the apparatus as the
pendulum is released.
2. The person who place the notched bar sample into the tester must be the one who
release the pendulum. This to ensure no one’s hand at the sample placing area.
3. Raise the pendulum to its high position just before testing. It should not be locked at
the high position any longer than necessary.

A. Specimen preparation.

1. By using handsaw, cut aluminum alloy rod into three specimens with 50 mm length
each.
2. Create a 2 mm depth notch at the center of each specimen.
3. Record the diameter of the specimen.

B. Impact testing

1. From the main screen, press the “operation” button.

2. Open the front protection of the machine.
3. Rotate the hammer upward to restore its released position (150o). For safety, make
sure the pendulum hammer is completely engage to the lock position.
4. Place the specimen on the anvil with the notch facing away from the hammer strike.
5. Close the protective cover.
6. Stand away from the swinging area of the hammer.
7. Pull the hand trigger from ‘lock’ to ‘release’ and allow the hammer to swing and
impact the sample.
8. Break the hammer and restore its vertical position.
9. Record the impact energy.

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5.0 RESULTS [20 marks]

1. Tabulate the test data, in which should include:

 Temperature
 Impact energy (each specimen and average)
(10 marks)
2. Draw a schematic diagram of an impact testing apparatus.
(10 marks)

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6.0 DISCUSSIONS [20 marks]

1. A Charpy V-notch specimen is tested by the impact-testing machine. In the test, the 15
kg hammer of arm-length 120 cm (measured from the fulcrum to the point of impact)
is raised to 90o and then released.

(i) What is the potential energy stored in the mass (hammer) when it hit the
specimen, in J?
(3 marks)

(ii) After fracture of the specimen, the hammer swings up to 45o. What is the
potential energy at this point, in J?
(3 marks)

(iii) How much energy lost during impact (toughness of specimen), in J?

(4 marks)

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2. One of the primary purposes of impact tests is to determine whether a material

experiences ductile-to-brittle transition. The following is tabulated data that were
gathered from a series of Charpy impact tests on a ductile cast iron.

Temperature (oC) Impact Enegry (J)

‒ 25 124
‒ 50 123
‒ 75 115
‒ 85 100
‒ 100 73
‒ 110 52
‒ 125 26
‒ 150 9
‒ 175 6

(i) Plot the data as impact energy versus temperature

(5 marks)

(ii) Determine a ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) as that

temperature (in oC) corresponding to the average of the maximum and
minimum impact energies.
(5 marks)

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7.0 CONCLUSION [15 marks]

Write THREE (3) conclusions based on the discussion and experiment objectives.

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8.0 REFERENCES [5 marks]

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