ALVAREZ, John Edriane A.

BSME – 2B

Engr. Gonzalo Salvador Jr.

 Experiment No. 4
IMPACT TEST

I. OBJECTIVES:
1. To understand the principles and methods of Impact Testing.
2. To determine the energy absorbed and impact toughness of selected material using
Charpy impact tester.
II. MATERIALS:
Low carbon steel 12.7 mm Ø
Cast iron 12.7 mm Ø
Copper 12.7 mm Ø

III. PROCEDURE:
1. Partially elevate the hammer of the tester to provide space for the placement of the
specimen.
2. Place the specimen carefully
3. Elevate the hammer to desired lifting up angle.
4. Set the indicating needle to zero.
5. While observing safety precaution, release the hammer by tapping the hammer lock
lever.
6. Read the hammer swing up angle.
7. Determine the energy absorbed by the specimen and impact toughness of the specimen
using the formula:

a. E = WR (cos β - cos α)
E: Energy absorbed by the material (Joules)
E
b. IT = W: Weight of hammer (256 N)
MCA R: Length of hammer arm (0.6345 m)

RAW DATA: α: Hammer lifting-up angle (140 degree)

Hammer swing-up angle (β) after impact

β: Hammer swing-up angle
to materials indicated below:

Low carbon steel = 85° IT: Impact Toughness (J/cm2)

Cast Iron = 95° MCA: Materials cross-sectional area
Copper = 40°
IV. Results and Discussions

Impact testing of metals and materials is performed to ensure the capability of the
material and determine the impact resistance or toughness of materials by calculating the
amount of energy absorbed upon impact. In this experiment the students performed with a
hammer that weighs 256 N, length of hammer that is 0.6345 m, and a hammer lifting angle of
140 degrees. With the use of the three materials that have equal diameter in millimeters, the
Low Carbon steel of 12.7 mm, Cast Iron of 12.7 mm, and Copper of 12.7 mm. The students
are able to obtain the energy absorbed by each material and the impact toughness of each.

138.587
109.402 J/cm2
Joules

110.273
87.051 J/cm2
Joules

248.860
196.453 J/cm2
Joules

With the use of the formula given and the raw data of hammer swing-up angle (β) of
each material, the students are able to determine the energy absorbed for each material, base
on the data that the students obtained, it is found out that the lower the hammer swing-up
angle the higher the energy absorbed by the material, from the results gathered from the table,
it is shown that the copper that has a 40 degrees hammer swing-up angle absorbed an energy
of 248.60 Joules, while the Cast Iron that has a much greater hammer swing-up angle of 95
degrees absorbed a less energy of 110.273 Joules. When it comes to impact toughness, the
students obtained the data using the impact toughness formula of energy absorbed divided by
the cross-sectional area of the circle. From the table, the results showed that the higher the
energy absorbed by the material the higher the impact toughness capability of the material. In
this experiment, it is proved that copper has the highest impact toughness of 196.453 J/cm2
than the impact toughness of low Carbon steel that has 109.402 J/cm2 and Cast Iron of 87.051
J/cm2.
V. Conclusion
From this experiment, the students are able to obtain the results and data needed to
determine the energy absorbed and impact toughness of each material that was tested using
the impact tester. The students also acquired a thorough understanding on the importance and
principles of an impact tester machine. From this experiment, the students concluded that the
energy absorbed is directly proportional to the impact toughness of a material. Since the
copper absorbed a much energy of 248.60 Joules it has a much greater impact toughness of
196.453 J/cm2 than the low Carbon Steel and Cast Iron.