Sub-sized CVN specimen conversion methodology

Presently most structural integrity assessment procedures still allow the use of Charpy-V notch impact tests as a measure of fracture toughness. The use is generally made through some more or less reliable correlations between standard Charpy-V notch energy and fracture toughness or tearing resistance. A problem arises if the structure has such a geometry that standard size Charpy-V notch specimens cannot be used. Application standards contain some guides on how to convert sub-sized specimen data to correspond to full size specimens, but these are often inaccurate and limited in their application range. Procedures like ASTM A370, BS7910 and API 579 give some advice on the use of sub-sized Charpy-V specimens but none of them cover the whole Charpy-V transition curve. Here, a new simple procedure, that is in line with BS7910, is presented. It is shown that it is applicable over the whole transition curve, thus enabling a point-wise conversion of sub-sized Charpy-V data to correspond to full size specimens. The new procedure is applicable for steel strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 1400 MPa.