Influence of some test parameters on specimen loading determination methods in instrumented Charpy impact tests

This paper is devoted to the analysis of the influence of some test paramet ers on impact load and specimen displacement measurements in instrumented C harpy impact tests. As impact material behaviour is a multi-parameter probl em, design of experiment method is used in order to organise test campaign and to assess the most influence variables. On one side, it is shown that p rocedures based on tup load measurement are strongly affected by test param eter setting. On the other side, methods based on specimen displacement est imation appear to be a simplest way due to limited dynamic effects on the s ample. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.