EXPERIMENT NO.

4
IMPACT TEST
Objective
To find impact strength of a material.
Apparatus:
Charpy Impact Tester
Specimen(V.Natched or U.Natched)

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.
IMPACT STENGTH:
E=PD (cos cos )

Where,
P= mass of hammer
D= distance between center of gravity of
hammer and
center of
connector.
FIGURE:

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 surface
is observed.
Observation and Calculation:

Sr.NO
1
2
3

Mass
Distance(
(P)
D)
(Kg)
(m)
40.98
0.694
40.98
0.694
40.98
0.694

Angle

Angle

()
136.5
139.5
138

()
96
100
98

Strength(
E)
Kg.m
17.63
16.79
17.34

Sample Calculation:E=PD (cos cos )

E= ( 40.98 ) .694 (cos 96cos 136.5)

E = 17.63 Kg.m

Conclusion: We can calculate the impact strength of

material with the help of Charpy impact tester. So with the help
of that we become familiar about the Impact strength.
Comments:
By comparing all the specimens used, it can be conclude that
the best specimen that gives highest impact energy is mild
steel (v-notch). Mild steel is tougher than carbon steel as it has
lower carbon composition in it and the v-notch provides better
performance against impact as it gives bigger unnotched crosssection area compared to u-notch mild steel bar.