Design Considerations to Improve Charpy Instrumented Strikers

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Impact Dynamics

Background:

• Conventional Charpy tests primarily measure impact energy.
• Advanced mechanical properties like dynamic fracture toughness require more sophisticated testing methods.
• Instrumented impact testing offers a pathway to extract richer data from impact events.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present design considerations for instrumented strikers used in Charpy V-notch impact testing.
• To develop an instrumented striker with sensitivity invariant to impact location and force distribution.
• To validate the design through static calibration and assess its performance characteristics.

Main Methods:

• Detailed engineering design of instrumented strikers, focusing on mechanical and geometric features.
• Strategic placement of strain gauges and design of associated bridge circuits for accurate data acquisition.
• Static calibration of the fabricated instrumented striker to evaluate its response and repeatability.

Main Results:

• The designed instrumented striker demonstrated good repeatability during static calibration.
• The striker exhibited a linear response to applied forces, indicating predictable behavior.
• The device showed relative insensitivity to the location and distribution of impact forces, fulfilling a key design goal.

Conclusions:

• The presented design considerations are effective for engineering instrumented strikers for Charpy impact testing.
• The developed instrumented striker is a viable tool for enhancing the assessment of dynamic mechanical properties.
• This approach advances the capability of Charpy testing for materials characterization.