Evaluation of the ductile-brittle transition temperature of anisotropic materials by small punch test with un-notched and U-notched specimens

Abstract

Small punch test (SPT) was conducted to investigate the mechanical properties of A350 steel in low temperatures. Un-notched and U-shaped specimens of the A350 steel were cut from the axial, circumferential and radial directions. And their ductile-brittle transition temperature and upper plateau impact energy were determined. No significant difference was observed in the upper plateau impact energy and ductile-brittle transition temperature of the steel according to the obtained results of the analyzed three different directions of the un-notch specimens. In contrast to the un-notch steel specimens, the upper plateau fracture energy of the three different directions of the material was determined using the U-notched specimens. This observation was in agreement with the results obtained by the Charpy impact test and confirms that the SPT using U-shaped notch specimens is a more reliable technique to evaluate the mechanical properties of anisotropy materials.