Comparison of Equivalent Energy and Energy Per Unit Area (¯W/A) Data with Valid Fracture Toughness Data for Iron, Aluminum, and Titanium Alloys

Abstract

Abstract Small specimens cut from large test specimens that had provided valid plane strain fracture toughness value KIc measurements were tested in slow bending at 25 and −196°C. The resulting load deflection curves were interpreted by the equivalent energy technique and two variations of the energy per unit area technique. The small specimen fracture toughness values resulting from all three methods produced good correlations with the valid, large specimen KIc values for the two test temperatures. For screening purposes the subsize specimen tests were considered to provide a relatively simple and reasonable estimate of the KIc of a material.