3D Scanning as an Effective Tool for Controlling the Dimensions of Test Specimens

Abstract

3D laser scanning is a powerfull tool that digitally captures the shape of physical objects using a laser light crosses. In this work, the 3D laser scanning technology is used for the 3D shape capture of specially designed specimens. These specimens pre- viously made of fine-grained cement-based composite of the nominal dimensions 40 × 40 × 160 mm with in- clusion in the shape of prisms with nominal dimen- sions of 8 × 8 × 40 mm were provided with an initial central edge notch and tested in the threee-point bend- ing configuration. The aim of this paper is to study the macrostructure of fracture surfaces via 3D scanning technology, measure the area of ligament, verify the de- signed notch depth and evaluate the fracture tough- ness and specific fracture energy based on the mea- sured dimensions. The results indicate that the mea- sured notch depth is lower than the designed one thus the differences between fracture toughness calculated for designed notch depth and for the measured one is ap- proximately 10 %. In addition, the fracture toughness is overestimated when considering the design values.