Comparison of mechanical properties in conventional and small punch tests of fractured anisotropic A350 alloy forging flange

Conventional tensile test (CTT) and small punch test (SPT) was carried out on a failed ASTM A350 forging flange to study specimen size effect on mechanical behavior. Specimens were machined from the failed flange along Circumferential and longitudinal directions to study the effect of anisotropy on mechanical properties. Our results show that an optimum sampling has to be used for correlation between SPT and conventional tensile test (CTT). Fractography studies carried out on the failed samples indicate that the fracture modes of SPT samples and the CTT samples were different with the former showing better toughness than the latter. This is attributed to smaller size of the specimen and constraints imposed by the experimental setup. Due to the anisotropy of the forged material, the sampling plane in the SPT should be perpendicular to the load direction for reliable correlation between the results of both methods of testing.