Study on Fracture Toughness Evaluation by centre-notched small size specimen for heavy-thick steel plates

In order to evaluate the fracture toughness of steel plates, centre-notched wide plate tension test is usually conducted using 400 mm width specimens. However, a large testing machine and huge expenditures are necessary in the case of 50–90 mm heavy-thick steel plates. In this paper, centre-notched small size tension test is proposed to evaluate the fracture toughness of heavy-thick steel plates by a simplified method. That is, centre-notched small size tension test specimens using the steel plate thickness (70 mm) as the specimen — width were made and employed for the tests, and the test results were evaluated and investigated.