Effect of Specimen Size on the Load Calibration in the Instrumented Impact Test

Abstract

Accurate measurement of load is essential in the instrumented impact test. Especially, significant variation in load has been reported in the instrumented Charpy impact test, for example when miniaturized specimens were tested. Load calibration values are evaluated by means of both finite element analyses and experiments. Decrease in specimen thickness results in slight decrease of calibration parameters. This is attributable to strain localization near the region in which strain gages are placed. The results strongly suggest that the system must be calibrated for each different size of specimens to know accurate toughness data.