Size Effect in Strain Limits of Medium Strength Steel

The test results of a larger research project on the strain at failure for a diversity of steel specimens and parameters were evaluated with respect to the influence of the volume of the specimens. The evaluation was based on the statistical Weibull distribution. It could be shown that a clear influence of specimen volume on limit strains is present also in steel and that the effect can be described by a Weibull two-parameter function. The results indicate that limit strains are dependent on one-dimensional parameters such as length or thickness rather than on three-dimensional volume.