Experimental Analysis of the Ductile-to-Brittle Transition in High-Strength Thin Metal Sheets: Charpy and Novel Impact Tensile Tests
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Background Toughness is essential for analyzing the damage and fracture behavior of metals and can be effectively characterized using the Charpy impact test. Objective The Charpy V-notch test, based on the German standards DIN EN ISO 148-1 (Metallische Werkstoffe - Kerbschlagbiegeversuch nach Charpy, 2010) and DIN EN ISO 14556 (Metallische Werkstoffe - Kerbschlagbiegeversuch nach Charpy (V-Kerb), 2017), requires test specimens to have a minimum thickness of 10 mm. Therefore, it is unsuitable for thin metal sheets with a thickness of only 2 mm. To address this limitation, a new pendulum test setup and impact tensile specimens using thin metal sheets are designed to evaluate the energy absorption of the investigated high-strength steels S1100A and S1100B. Methods The newly designed impact tensile specimens are subjected to various temperatures, ranging from room temperature to -196 $$^\circ $$ ∘ C, in intervals of 25 $$^\circ $$ ∘ C. In addition, sub-size Charpy tests are performed to compare with the newly designed impact tensile tests. Scanning electron microscopy is used to examine the fracture surfaces after the experiments, distinguishing between ductile and cleavage fracture behavior. Results Different absorbed impact energy–temperature transition curves are obtained for the sub-size Charpy V-notch and impact tensile experiments for the high-strength steels S1100A and S1100B. Additionally, the results reveal that stress states significantly influence the ductile-to-brittle transition curves, as well as different damage and fracture behavior. Conclusions The new experimental approach provides an effective method to capture the toughness of thin metal sheets under different stress states. It facilitates understanding damage and fracture behavior under impact loading conditions while accounting for temperature effects.
Source: Experimental Mechanics
Authors: Z. Wei, D. Li, G. Mao, S. Münstermann
Institution: RWTH Aachen University
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanics of Materials
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,390
Funders: Voestalpine, AiF Projekt, ThyssenKrupp
Award: G5414631866
OpenAlex ID: W4414016141