Charpy impact test | EPFL Graph Search

In materials science, the Charpy impact test, also known as the Charpy V-notch test, is a standardized high strain rate test which determines the amount of energy absorbed by a material during fracture. Absorbed energy is a measure of the material's notch toughness. It is widely used in industry, since it is easy to prepare and conduct and results can be obtained quickly and cheaply. A disadvantage is that some results are only comparative. The test was pivotal in understanding the fracture problems of ships during World War II. The test was developed around 1900 by S. B. Russell (1898, American) and Georges Charpy (1901, French). The test became known as the Charpy test in the early 1900s due to the technical contributions and standardization efforts by Charpy. History In 1896, S. B. Russell introduced the idea of residual fracture energy and devised a pendulum fracture test. Russell's initial tests measured un-notched samples. In 1897, Frémont introduced a test to measu

Approche expérimentale du comportement mécanique des polymères en sollicitation rapide

In the more recent applications of technical polymers, they are frequently submitted to high strain rates. Being viscoelastic by nature, their mechanical properties are rate dependent. It is therefore important to investigate their properties over a wide range of strain rates. The aims of this study are twofold: i) to propose an experimental technique applicable to a large domain of strain rates, included those covering impact tests, and ii) to apply this technique to the study of the rate dependence of the mechanical properties of some technical polymers. In the first section, the deformation mechanisms of polymers, and the way in which they are influenced by strain rate, are reviewed. Some basics of fracture mechanics are also briefly presented. A detailed study of our original approach to the high rates tests then follows. This technique is based on the reduction of dynamic effects which often affect the measurements at high loading rates. Rather than impact tests, our technique is a quasi-static tests at high rates. This results from the use of a damper as coupling element between the servohydraulic piston and the specimen, together with the specific design of load and displacement detectors. The transient acceleration, responsible for the dynamic effects is decreased, but the high loading rates are maintained. The second section is devoted to the investigation of the rate effect on the tensile and rupture properties of polyoxymethylene (POM) and impact modified polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). It is shown that high molecular weight POM is less sensitive to the increase of the loading rates than for lower molecular weights. The physical structure, which depends on the processing conditions, plays an important role as well. Results show greater embrittlement by increasing the loading rate than by lowering the temperature. Finally, a molecular model of fracture is proposed. PMMA modified by different fractions and morphologies of the rubbery phase are submitted to tensile and fracture tests at room temperature. Several stages in the micromechanisms of deformation are identified by transmission electron microscopy. The progressive disappearance of some of these stages leads to ductile to brittle transitions in some of the materials studied. The velocity at which these transitions occur depends on the fraction and on the morphology of the modifying phase. It is also shown that a spherical morphology of the rubbery phase is not necessarily required to improve the toughness, but that this latter depends on the interactions between the phases.

EPFL1996

Contribution to the Production and Characterization of W-Y, W-Y2O3 and W-TiC Materials for Fusion Reactors

Lyubomira Veleva

This PhD Thesis work was aimed at investigating the potentiality of tungsten-base materials as structural materials for the future thermonuclear fusion reactors in attempting to develop reduced activation tungsten-base materials with high strength and sufficient ductility, especially in terms of fracture toughness and ductile-to-brittle transition temperature, on the basis of the following ideas: (1) nano-grained materials are expected to show an improved ductility with respect to normal grain-sized materials, and (2) nano-grained materials and materials reinforced with either oxide or carbide particles are expected to show improved strength and radiation resistance, as (i) the particles should act as obstacles for the propagation of mobile dislocations, (ii) the numerous grain boundaries and interfaces between the matrix and the particles should act as sinks for the irradiation-induced defects, and (iii) the particles should also help stabilizing the numerous grain boundaries upon thermal annealing and/or irradiation. A variety of W-base materials, namely W-(0.3-1.0-2.0)Y2O3, W-(0.3-1.0-2.0)Y and W-(0.3-0.9-1.7)TiC materials (in weight percent), have been successfully produced at the laboratory scale by powder metallurgy techniques including mechanical alloying followed by either cold pressing and sintering or hot isostatic pressing (HIPping). X-ray diffractometry and scanning and transmission electron microscopy observations combined with density and microhardness measurements as well as with tensile, Charpy impact, fracture toughness and non-standard three point bending tests allowed the identification of optimal chemical compositions and manufacturing conditions, among those investigated and on the basis of the experimental devices at disposal. Microscopic investigations showed that the materials produced at the laboratory scale are composed of small grains, with sizes between a few tens and a few hundreds nanometers, and contain a high density of small Y2O3 or TiC particles, with sizes between 1 and 50 nm. In the case of W-Y materials, all the Y transformed into Y2O3 during mechanical alloying, due to the high amount of O (around 1 wt.%) present in the milled powders, which is beneficial for reducing the excess O content in the materials. All materials also contain a residual porosity of a few percents, which is typical of materials compacted by HIPping. Macroscopic investigations showed that the HIPped materials exhibit high strength values and a promising resistance to irradiation but poor fracture properties up to a very high temperature of about 1100 °C, due mostly to air contamination of the mechanically alloyed powders and to residual porosity of the compacted materials. The materials produced entirely at the laboratory scale by mechanical alloying and HIPping are of better quality than a W-2Y material that was produced by mechanical alloying at the laboratory scale and compacted by sintering and forging at the Plansee company (Austria). Further studies should focus on reducing the O content in the mechanically alloyed powders and the residual porosity of the compacted materials. The grain size should be also optimized as well as the size distribution, number density and crystallographic features of the oxide and carbide particles.

EPFL2011

Stitched shape memory alloy wires enhance damage recovery in self-healing fibre-reinforced polymer composites

Amaël Maximilien Cohades, Nathan Klaus Hostettler, Véronique Michaud

A major issue in composite technology is matrix micro-cracking due to low-velocity impact damage, which may severely limit service lifetimes of composite parts. In a novel approach, remarkable levels of healing of impact damage are obtained using shape memory alloy (SMA) wires to close longitudinal cracks in woven glass fibre-reinforced polymer plates with an epoxy-polycaprolactone (EP-PCL) matrix that shows dual-phase continuity. Thermal actuation of SMA wires stitched through the thickness of the stacked glass fibre plies introduces compressive loads to the cracks thanks to anchoring of the SMA loops at the fabric surfaces and debonding of the intervening threads, which prevents local deformation of the SMA, so that crack closure by about 200 μm is achievable. Concomitant expansion of the vascular network formed by the molten PCL fills the compressed cracks, resulting in highly effective healing on cooling, as demonstrated by C-scan images. Specimens stitched with SMA wires hence show almost complete healing, i.e. damage area recovery of 85%, after low-velocity impact at up to 17 J followed by heat treatment at 150 °C. This represents a 55% improvement over previous results for unstitched EP-PCL composites, and hence significantly greater degrees of healing than so far reported for this range of impact energies and this type of system.

2018

Contribution to the Production and Characterization of W-Y, W-Y2O3 and W-TiC Materials for Fusion Reactors

Lyubomira Veleva

EPFL2011

Approche expérimentale du comportement mécanique des polymères en sollicitation rapide

EPFL1996