DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ME 217 Materials Science Laboratory

Title of Experiment
IMPACT TEST

Name: Alomari, Mamdouh

ID: 201248040
Section: 54

Introduction:
For engineering materials, two fractures mode are possible, ductile and
brittle.
The classification is based on the ability to experience a plastic
deformation. Ductile materials typically exhibit substantial plastic
deformation with high energy absorption before fracture. On the other
hand, there is normally little or no plastic deformation with low energy
absorption accompanying brittle fracture.

Objective:
1-Describe the difference between brittle and ductile fracture.
2- Be able to determine the fracture type from examining the fracture
surface.
3- Define DBTT for steel.
4- Be able to measure the fracture energy using the impact test.

Impact Test :
The most commonly used impact tests are Charpy and Izod tests. Both
tests employ the pendulum principle where a swinging pendulum is
allowed to fall and strike a specimen. These tests are made on small Vnotched specimens of square cross section. Heavy pendulum released
from a cocked position (at a fixed height h), strike the specimen as
impact blow and fracture at the notch, and then swings through its arc to
a maximum height of h (which is lower than h). The impact energy (i.e.,
energy absorbed by the specimen during failure) is calculated from the
difference in potential energy of pendulum before and after fracture of
specimen as Impact energy = mg (h-h). where m is the mass of the
pendulum and g is the acceleration due to gravity. The impact energy is
usually expressed in foot-pounds (ft-lb) or joules (J).

Experimental Procedure :
We will use three different metals samples which is Steel, Brass and
Aluminum :
1- Check the hummer of the machine it works properly.
2- Take the sample and use the saw to make the notch very well and make
the diameter to be 3 mm.
3- Calibrate the machine (without specimen)
energy lost by friction and air resistance.

in place to determine the

4- Insert the sample and block into its place.

5- Finally , press the button and then record the impact energy and angle.

Results and Calculations:

From the data uploaded in the WebCT we got this graph :

The median is almost 45 joule .

so by adding a trend line and substituting the point 44 joule in the equation we can conclude
that DBTT corresponds to the value -17 C
In the lab we found the E-air = 0.04 J &
Material

a = 100

Bavg

E-measured avg

E-actual avg

Aluminum
Brass
Steel

90.3
86.5
46

0.39
0.54
2.03

0.35
0.50
1.99

From this table we can say steel is the highest in impact energy and aluminum is the
lowest .

Conclusions:

In this experiment, we differentiated between ductile & brittle materials by

impact test and we saw the effect of the temperature on the type of
breakage that may happen to the material.

We found DBTT to be -17 C.

We found that steel is the highest in impact energy and aluminum is the
lowest.