ABSTRACT
Charpy V-Notch (CVN) impact tests are commonly used to evaluate the toughness of steels used in many industries. Material specifications often include minimum impact energy requirements to reduce the likelihood of structures undergoing brittle fracture at service temperatures. However, the specified values are only valid for full-size CVN specimens. To quantify the impact toughness of thinner components, sub-size CVN specimens must be tested. Sub-size impact energy must then be corrected to account for the reduced fracture area of the smaller specimens, and a test temperature shift must be applied due to the inherently lower ductile-to-brittle-transition temperature of the smaller specimens. An array of energy corrections and temperature shifts was applied to a material tested using full- and sub-size specimens to determine the accuracy of the equivalent full-size values. The results of this analysis were then used in a forensic investigation to determine if the thin wall of a pole structure exhibited a lack of toughness, contributing to premature cracking.
