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Table of Contents
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... 2
A. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3
B. Theory ............................................................................................................................... 4
C. Technical Description ........................................................................................................ 6
a. Specimen ......................................................................................................................... 6
b. Vernier Calliper ............................................................................................................. 7
c. Instron Ceast 9050 Universal Pendulum Impact Tester ................................................. 7
d. Microscope .................................................................................................................... 8
D. Experiment Procedure ..................................................................................................... 10
E. Data and Observation ....................................................................................................... 11
Dimension ........................................................................................................................ 11
Impact Data ..................................................................................................................... 11
F. Result and Discussion ....................................................................................................... 12
Aluminum Fractures ......................................................................................................... 13
Steel Fracture .................................................................................................................... 13
G. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 17
H. References ....................................................................................................................... 18

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 A. Introduction
Impact test is defined by the ability of the materials to absorb the energy during a
collision. Impact test are performed for mechanical property of evaluation test. Properties
measured by this test beyond the materials and temperature are the yield strength and ductility,
placement, strain rate, shape of notches, and the fracture of the specimen.

From the measurement properties the transitional behavior can be defined to identify the
ductile-brittle transition (DBT) from the triaxial state of stress, the temperature, and the strain
of the specimen. Besides, the result of this test can be used in selecting materials for various
applications. For example, to develop new materials to get the best material used in the
company [4].

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 B. Theory
The most common impact test is the Charpy impact test. In Charpy impact test,
rectangular specimen is mostly used in this experiment.

Fig.1 Charpy Test Machine

This machine record the amount of energy from the energy difference between ( 𝐸 ) initial
condition and final condition from the machine pendulum. Mathematically can express as

𝐸 = 𝐸𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 - 𝐸𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙
Where,
𝐸 = Energy difference (Joule)
𝐸𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 = Initial Energy (Joule)

𝐸𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 = Final Energy (Joule)

Besides, the energy difference can get from the different of potential energy. Potential
energy ( 𝑃. 𝐸. ) defined as the energy because of its position relative to some object.

𝑃. 𝐸. = 𝑚. 𝑔. ℎ
So,

𝐸 = 𝑚. 𝑔. ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 − 𝑚. 𝑔. ℎ𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙

𝐸 = 𝑚. 𝑔. (ℎ . sin 900 − ℎ. sin 𝜃)

𝐸 = 𝑚. 𝑔. ℎ. (1 − sin 𝜃)
Where,
P.E. = Potential Energy

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 m = mass of pendulum (kg)
𝑚
g = gravitation acceleration (9.81 𝑠2 )

ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 = initial height (m)

ℎ𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 = final height (m)
θ = the angle raising angle

In general, impact causes the region of plastic deformation. The stress and strain
increase until the specimen fractures. Therefore, this test most useful to comparing the fracture
of materials to define the type of materials are ductile or brittle. The ductile have the matte
structure and heavily deformed, while the brittle has low deformation structure and the material
separation by direct stress over cleavage planes.

Fig.2 Fracture of Ductile and Brittle Material

Impact tests are also useful for determining transition temperatures. The materials reach
the temperature below the transition temperature, it takes less energy to fracture than when the
materials reach the temperature above the transition temperature. If the dimensions of
specimens are maintained as indicated in standards, notched bar impact test results are affected
by the lattice type of materials, testing temperature, thermo-mechanical history, chemical
composition of materials, degree of strain hardening, etc. [2]

Fig.3 Graph of FCC metals, BCC metals, and high-strength material

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 C. Technical Description
In doing the experiment, there are some equipment that have to prepare. It is based on
what kind of method used. In this experiment, the student required some equipment listed
below:

a. Specimen
The specimen is the main object to test in the experiment. This Charpy Impact Test
used two kind of specimen made from two different materials, aluminum and steel. The
specimen should be in accordance with the standards set. The standard used is depend on
what material want to be tested. Here, the students use “ASTM E23 – Standard Test
Method for Notched bar in Metallic Material”, since the material of the specimen is the
metals.

Fig.4 Dimension of the Specimen

Based on the ASTM E23 standard, the specimen of charpy test should have 55 mm length,
10 mm width and 8 mm thickness for the v-notched type. The radius of the notch is 0.25
mm with the angle 450 and 2 mm deep (Figure 4) [1]. In this experiment, the student use
specimen with 7.5 mm thickness for aluminum and 5.6 mm thickness for steel.

Fig.5 Aluminum Specimen

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 Fig.6 Steel Specimen

b. Vernier Calliper
Vernier calliper is used to measure the length of an object. It has reading error of 0.05
mm. Vernier calliper has two part of scale, the fixed scale (show in cm) and the moving
scale or Vernier scale (in mm). It also has two jaws, the upper jaws and lower jaw. The
upper jaw is used for inside measurement, such as the inner diameter of a cylinder. The
lower jaw is used to measure the outside measurements, such the length of an object, and
the outer diameter. In this experiment, the students use the lower jaws to measure the
thickness and width of the specimen. [2]

Fig.7 Vernier Caliper

c. Instron Ceast 9050 Universal Pendulum Impact Tester

The CEAST 9050 is the testing machine used in this experiment. It has range of impact
energy of 0.5 Joule to 50 Joule. The type of the machine used is the motorized model. This
pendulum impact tester could be used to test several standards, such as ISO 179, ASTM
E23 (only for low energy reference specimen), DIN 53453, and some others standard. The
features of this machine are:
- Standard safety guards
- Hammer Brake system
- Hammer angle measurement
- Hammer identification System

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 - Touch screen panel
- Embedded PC technology
- Quick changes hammer
- Quick change supports and fixture [3]

Fig.8 Instron Ceast 9050 Universal Pendulum Impact Tester

d. Microscope
Microscope is an optical device which can help to observe the microscopic object. This
device is often used in laboratory. This experiment use microscope to observe the surface
area of the specimen after it is tested by the impact tester. The magnification used is 50x
magnification. In the left side of the microscope, there is an adjustor used to adjust the
focus. The image formed through the objective lens will have a circle surface and blur in
some area. It is because the surface area of the failure specimen is not flat. So, it can only

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 focus in a certain area.

Fig.9 Microscope

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 D. Experiment Procedure
1. Measured the dimensions of the specimen by using Vernier Caliper.
2. The main compressed air valve that located behind the machine opened to adjust the
pressure.
3. The main AC power switched on. Then next the main devices were switched on. The
machine screen was on.
4. The screen on the machine was stand by in ON position and did calibration.
5. The parameters input that has chosen is ISO 150 degree.
6. The Operations menu selected. To ensure the information about angle, hammer,
parameters is were displayed is correct.
7. In the Dimensions button, the width and the thickness of the specimen inputted.
8. The protection cover was opened, placed the specimen on the vice the specimen
location was evaluated to ensure that the specimen is laced in the center position.
9. The protection cover was closed.
10. The start button was pressed then the pendulum hammer released.
11. After impact happened, the protection cover was open again.
12. The specimen was collected, the fracture surface of specimen was being observed by
microscope.

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 E. Data and Observation

Dimension
Specimen Thickness (mm) Width (mm)

Aluminum 10 7.5
Steel 10 5.6

The table above shows the dimension of each specimen of materials. Thickness is

stands for the thickness of the whole specimen. The width stands for the thickness measured
from the depth of the notch to the surface behind the notch.

Impact Data
Name Energy Energy Impact Speed Raising
Percent (%) Absorbed (m/s) Angle
(Joule)
(⁰)
Aluminum 29,268 14,6338 4,043 -108,5
Steel 42,962 21,4808 4,043 -93,55

Where,
Energy Percent = The percentage of energy absorbed by the materials
Energy Absorbed = Amount of energy absorbed by the material
Impact Speed = The speed of released pendulum
Raising Angle = The angle of pendulum after the pendulum hit the specimen

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 F. Result and Discussion
1. Question 1: Explain the main uses of the Charpy Test

The Charpy Impact Test is one of the impact test methods. It is used to determine
the toughness of the materials. Toughness is the ability of a material to absorb the
energy until before it fractures. By using the data of energy absorbed by the material,
the student can identify the toughness of the material. Also, the Charpy impact test is
used to analyse the effects of the material temperature on the material properties. [4]

2. Question 2: Display the recorded data. Explain the correlation of the winging energy
of the pendulum to the material properties by using your data!

Energy Raising
Energy Impact Speed
Name Absorbed (Joule) Angle
Percent (%) (m/s)
(⁰)
Aluminum 29,268 14,6338 4,043 -108,5
Steel 42,962 21,4808 4,043 -93,55

The initial energy of impact test measured by using potential energy of the
swing. As the pendulum released from a certain height, it is hit the specimen and certain
amount of energy absorbed by the specimen. Absorbed energy shows how tough the
material is. More energy absorbed means that the material is tougher. The amount of
energy absorbed can be obtained by the raising angle of pendulum after the impact. The
bigger angle created, the less energy absorbed by the specimen.

The initial energy of the machine is 50 Joule in the angle 150 degrees. Based on
the impact data, Aluminum absorbed 29,268% of initial energy which is 14,6338 with
108,5 degrees raising angle (clockwise). While the steel absorbed 42,962% of initial
energy which is 21,4808 Joule with 93,55 degrees raising angle. By comparing both
materials, steel is tougher than the aluminum since the raising angle of the steel is less
than the aluminum which means the absorbed energy is more than aluminum before.

3. Question 3: Draw by-hand the fracture surface of all specimens tested after your
observation using the microscope. Compare and describe the differences! Explain how

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 the fracture surface image of the other material with different characteristic (ductile or
brittle) from any references as comparison with steel and aluminum.

Aluminum Fractures

Fig.11 Microscopic Fracture of

Fig.10 Hand-draw of Aluminum Fracture Aluminum

Steel Fracture

Fig.12 Hand-draw of Steel Fracture Fig.13 Microscopic Fracture of

Steel

The fracture is looks smoother since it forms grains fracture. The Steel fracture is in
abstract and bigger cleavage. The fracture surface of the aluminum is matte while the steel is

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glossier. Matte fracture surface is described that the material is heavily deformed fracture
surface. While the glossy surface has a trans-crystalline fracture. From the microscopic view,
the aluminum material is more ductile since the fracture shows a matte and very small grains
of fracture. While the Steel is brittle since the fracture texture is rough and glossier.

Fig.16 Microscopic Fracture of Brittle, Ductile and Mixed fracture

4. Question 4: What are the 3 basic factors which contribute to brittle fracture of steels?
Do all 3 have to be present for brittle fracture to occur?
The three factors which contribute to the brittle fracture are the applied stress,

the low temperature, and the strain rate. These 3 factors don’t have to be present in the
same time. The applied stress and the low temperature are responsible the most to the
failures of the brittle. But since these effects are accentuated at a high rate of loading,
many types of impact tests have been used to determine the susceptibility of materials
to brittle behavior. [5]

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 5. Question 5: What is the necessity of the notch in impact test specimen?

Fig.15 Microscopic Fracture of Steel

The various types of notch are used to measure the tendency of materials to
behave like brittle manner. The notch on the specimen serves as a stress concentration
zone. Commonly, materials are more sensitive around the notch than the other part. So
that specimen with notch can give the result where the specific part specimen to fail.
The notch depth and tip radius are very important. Fig.14 Above is the example
illustration of the load distribution on a brittle material. According the picture, the
largest stress is concentrated around the notch.

6. Question 6: If the sharpness of V-Notch is more in one specimen than the other what
will be the effect on the test result?
The sharper notch means less width on the specimen. Reducing the width will
affect the area. Reducing the area means that more shear-stress acting on the specimen
so that the specimen is easier to breaks.

7. Question 7: Why do aluminum alloys do not show DBTT? You may explain by
comparing it with other materials.
DBTT is Ductile-Brittle Transition Temperature is a phenomenon can be
observed in metals. Below critical temperature (DBTT) the material suddenly become
brittle and lost the ductility and vice versa. Aluminum is the 3rd most common use
material in this world and comprising 8% of the earth’s crust. Aluminum is including

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 as FCC (Face Center Cubic) metals. FCC behavior is stay ductile even in a low
temperature. It has a small change in impact energy as the temperature decrease.

Aluminum is very ductile material which has low melting temperature and
density. Aluminum alloy is the alloy which aluminum is the predominant metal. After
alloyed the aluminum with other materials, the properties of aluminum become more
solid but still ductile. As the temperature reduced, the strength is increase without losing
the ductility. So that aluminum has no Ductile-Brittle Transition Temperature since
brittle fracture problems do not occur with aluminum.

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 G. Conclusion
The aims of conducting Impact Test, is to find out the toughness of material. It can be
analyze by doing the experiment by using Charpy method with two specimens which are
aluminum and steel. From the data that obtained the toughness of material is determined by the
absorbed energy. In brief aluminum toughness is lower than the steel toughness of course with
their specific thickness or their dimension. It caused by the energy that absorbed by steel is
higher than aluminum. Here the higher the energy absorbed, the higher the resistance of the
material due to the impact strength. Additionally, the impact strength of steel is higher than
aluminum because the energy that can be absorbed with its cross-section area.

By observing the fracture surface of the specimen using microscope, the behavior of the
material can be determined. In this case both specimens that partisan used are ductile. Even
though they has the same behavior they has different look under microscope. The steel crystal
structure is Body Centered Cubic while the aluminum crystal structure is Face Centered Cubic
then from this it can be take a conclusion that the aluminum more ductile than steel

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 H. References
[1] ASTM International, “Standard Test Methods for Notched Bar Impact Testing of Metallic
Materials”, 2007. [Online]. Available:
http://mhriau.ac.ir/_DouranPortal/Documents/ASTM%20E23%20%28impact%20test%29_2
0160406_233024.pdf. [Accessed 17 October 2018].

[2] Wonkee Donkee, “What are the Parts of Vernier Caliper?”,. [Online]. Available:
https://www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk/calipers/what-are-the-parts-of-a-vernier-caliper.
[Accessed 18 October 2018]

[3] Instron, “Ceast 9000 Series”, 2010. [Online]. Available: http://www.instron.us/-

/media/literature-library/products/2013/09/ceast-9000-series-pendulum-
impacttesters.pdf?la=en-US. [Accessed 18 October 2018]

[4] University, V. (2018). ME124 Mechanical Engineering Laboratory III Experiment.

[online] Uvm.edu. Available at: http://www.uvm.edu/~dhitt/me124/expt_6.pdf [Accessed
17 Oct. 2018].

[5] Hicks, J. (1999). Welded joint design. 3rd ed. Woodhead Publishing, pp.116-122.

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