ABSTRACT
Static fracture toughness characteristics are traditionally determined in tests of standard notched specimens using a P-V curve, where P is the load and V is the notch-opening displacement. This curve has a characteristic point Q. At the load PQ corresponding to this point, the crack starts to propagate. For this load, the fracture toughness characteristics are then calculated. In brittle (elastic) fracture, the P-V curve at the onset of crack propagation has an extremum (or a local extremum), from whose ordinate PQ is determined with sufficient accuracy. In ductile and elastic-ductile fracture, P-V curves are monotonically increasing, and PQ is calculated using the 5% secant offset method without taking into account the characteristics of the material, so that the PQ is determined inaccurately. To improve the accuracy of PQ determination, we propose a thermographic method for determining the fracture toughness of metals. This method involves plotting the load P against the temperature change ΔТ over a relatively short period of time at the notch tip. This plot is then transformed to a P-ΔS curve, where ΔS is the specific entropy increment at the notch tip, which is calculated through ΔТ. This thermodynamic diagram has a characteristic step at the beginning of crack propagation, and from the ordinate of this step, PQ can be determined much more accurately. Furthermore, in the thermographic method, the preparation of test specimens can be simplified by replacing the process of growing a fatigue crack at the tip of a notch by making a sharp cut, which provides significant time savings. Statistical processing and comparison of test results of steel 20 specimens using the conventional and thermographic methods have shown the advantages of the thermographic method in accuracy and complexity.