University of Jordan School of Engineering Mechanical Department

University of jordan
School of engineering
Mechanical department
Strength Lab Report

Experiment #7
Impact Test
Introduction
The purpose of impact testing is to measure an object's ability to resist high-rate loading. It is usually
thought of in terms of two objects striking each other at high relative speeds. A part, or material's
ability to resist impact often is one of the determining factors in the service life of a part, or in the
suitability of a designated material for a particular application. Impact resistance can be one of the
most difficult properties to quantify. The ability to quantify this property is a great advantage in
product liability and safety.
Impact energy is a measure of the work done to fracture a test specimen. When the striker
impacts the specimen, the specimen will absorb energy until it yields. ... The test specimen
continues to absorb energy and work hardens at the plastic zone at the notch. When the
specimen can absorb no more energy, fracture occurs.
Objective :
To determine the energy absorbed by several specimens of different materials and notches
during fracture and use it as a measure of the specimen’s toughness.
Procedure :
1) The dimensions of the unnotched length and the thickness of the specimen are measured.
2) The pendulum is raised to the left until it indicates the maximum energy range on the upper
indicator unit.
3) The specimen is placed horizontally across supports with the notch away from the pendulum
4) Pendulum is released.
5) The indicated value from the indicator unit is recorded.
6) The brake is applied until the pendulum has returned to its stable hanging vertical position.
7) The specimen is removed from the testing area and failure
Theory :
Impact test is a test used in studying the toughness of material. The definition of toughness is
defined as the capacity of material to absorb energy and deform plastically before fracturing.
Toughness is associated with both ductility and strength of materials.
Since the amount of plastic deformation that occurs before fracture is a measure of the ductility
of the material and because the stress needed to cause fracture is a measure of its strength, it
follows that toughness is associated with both the ductility and strength of the material.
Impact test involves the sudden and dynamic application of the load. For this purpose, in
general, a pendulum is made to swing from a fixed height and strike the standard impact
specimen. There are two types of method to test impact test which is Izod test and Charpy test.
These two methods are different in placing the specimens. In Izod test, the specimen is placed
in vertical position and the notch area is facing the pendulum. Meanwhile in Charpy test, the
specimen is placed horizontally with unnotched area facing the pendulum. Moreover, Izod
impact specimen only has a V-notch specimen while Charpy impact specimen has both U-notch
and V-notch specimen. Charpy test result can indicate how brittle the materials are. The most
common method for the measurement of impact strength that is Charpy tests is used in this
experiment.
Data observed :
Table 1
Specimen Impact
Test Cross Notc value
Material
section(mm) h (Joule)
Brass 10 X 10 U 20
Izod Brass 10 X 10 V 24
Energy loss= 4 J Steel 10 X 10 U 54
Steel 10 X 10 V 38
Brass 10 X 10 U 54
Charpy Brass 10 X 10 V 47
Energy loss= 32J Steel 10 X 10 U 75
Steel 10 X 10 V 72
Sample calculations :
Izod :Energy losses=4 joule
For Brass v :
Impact value=24-4=20
Table 2
Results :
Izod:
1)The beam held in vertical position.

2) The impact is on the plane of notch.
3)The notch is facing the striker.
Charpy:
1)The beam held horizontal position.
2)The impact is on the backside of the notch.
3)The notch is opposing the striker.

Apparatus :
Machines :
Izod testing machine : Charpy testing machine
Figure 1
Figure 2
Specimens used :
Steel and brass
V-notch U-notch
Figure 3 Figure 4
Comparison between Izod test and Charpy test :
Izod test Charpy test

Position of specimen the test material was placed in a the test material was placed
vertical position horizontally
Position of notch facing the striker away from the striker
Hammer type Farming hammer Ball Pin hammer
Striker position striker swings downward, hitting the striker hits the center of the
the test material in the middle, at test material, behind a machined
the bottom of its swing, and is notch. The notch is positioned
Left free at top away from the striker, fastened
(edge of the anvil is at the same in a pendulum
level of the lower edge of the
notch)
Purpose of the test used to evaluate the materials higher speeds and collision
for overall hardiness. It’s not energy could be achieved in a
applicable to compound Vertical style fall .This method
materials because of the proved to be reliable, and gave
influence of complicated and qualitative collision data.
inconsistent failure modes.
( Table 3)
**both tests are used to find the absorbed energy
**both tests uses swinging pendulums
**the specimens used in both tests contain notches.

Discussion :
Notches are important in this test to cause test concentration, as a result brittle fracture will occur instead
of deformation of the specimen (decreases ductile failure)
V notch causes more stress concentration which means it is easier for a specimen with a V notch to reach
fracture than a U notch, the results of the test also shows that this is true because as you can see energy
absorbed by the U notch brass specimen was 25 Joules it was 16 Joules for the V notch and the same
result is repeated for other specimens using both tests izod and charpy.
Impact test is important to have a measure of a given material's toughness and acts as a tool to study
temperature-dependent brittle-ductile transition.
It is to determine whether the material is brittle or ductile in nature.
Energy loss due to friction was subtracted from the readings to get the final absorbed energy.
If the pendulum keeps going back and forth after the fracture of the specimen test has to be repeated.
Fracture occurred as the following figure :
Figure 5
Possible sources of error :
- Error in the specimen itself : being non-homogeneous or errors in the position or the shape and
dimentions of the notches .
- Human errors : taking false readings , taking a long time to stop the pendulum after fracture ,
taking wrong dimentions.
- Machine error : the pendulum is not stopped exactly after fracture because it should be stopped
by us , friction .
- Force is not acted directly on the axis of the specimen (charpy test)
To reduce the error :

Be extra careful and exact when taking any readings
Try to stop the pendulum right after the fracture
Repeat the test more than once to get more accurate results and compare the
Conclusion :
Steel showed higher values of energy absorbed in both tests which means steel has higher toughness than
Brass.
The izod and charpy tests gave different values of energy absorbed by the same specimen due to the
difference in the hammers and the position of the specimens but they both gave the same result (that steel
is Taugher than Brass and U notch causes less stress concentration)

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University of jordan

Strength Lab Report

1)The beam held in vertical position.

3)The notch is facing the striker.

1)The beam held horizontal position.

2)The impact is on the backside of the notch.

3)The notch is opposing the striker.

Izod testing machine : Charpy testing machine

Steel and brass

Izod test Charpy test

**both tests are used to find the absorbed energy

**both tests uses swinging pendulums

**the specimens used in both tests contain notches.

To reduce the error :

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