Shear Punch and Microhardness Tests for Strength and Ductility Measurements
SourceIn response to the requirements of the fusion reactor materials development program for small-scale mechanical property tests, two techniques have been developed, namely ball microhardness and shear punch tests. The ball microhardness test is based on the repeated measurement at increasing loads of the chordal diameter of an impression made by a spherical penetrator. A correlation has been developed to predict the constitutive relation of the test material from these data. In addition, the indentation pile-up geometry can be analyzed to provide information on the homogeneity of plastic flow in the test material. The shear punch test complements the microhardness test. It is based on blanking a circular disk from a fixed sheet metal specimen. The test is instrumented to provide punch load-displacement data, and these data can be used to determine flow properties of the test material such as yield stress, ultimate tensile strength, work-hardening exponent, and reduction of area.