Testing Samples Size Effect on Notch Toughness of Structural Steels

The increasing need in the mechanical testing of sub-sized samples motivated the present study focused on the effect of the size of samples. Sometimes, attempts are made, due to economic reasons, to replace testing of the fracture toughness by a cheaper testing of notch toughness. Several empirical relations, pertaining to relations between fracture toughness and energy consumption in impact testing, as well as different methods of loading, have been suggested in works of Barsom and Rolfe 1 , Barsom 2 and Marendet and Sanz 3 . An in-depth analysis is needed, not only from the point of view of specific methods of testing samples of different sizes, but, also, for the development of solid criteria for evaluating the fracture characteristics, particularly in view of risks involved in applying results of testing of small samples to a real structures.