Innovative tensile test for brittle materials: Validation on graphite R4550

This paper proposes an innovative ultrasonic tensile test methodology for the assessment of quasi-static uniaxial mechanical properties and tensile strength of brittle materials. An ultrasonic testing machine, commonly employed for very high cycle fatigue tests, had its control and data acquisition systems adapted to induce specimen failure in about 100 cycles, avoiding cyclic load damage. The mechanical properties are thereafter estimated with a finite element model which simulates the experimental test. The proposed method has been validated by assessing the tensile strength of graphite R4550, characterized by brittle behaviour. The mechanical properties for graphite R4550 estimated with this experimental-numerical approach were found to be close to literature values obtained in different quasi-static testing configurations, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed method and the feasibility of employing the ultrasonic fatigue testing machine for studying the behaviour of brittle materials. Furthermore, the proposed methodology eliminated issues caused by mechanical fixtures and tensile testing machine alignment, while also allowing a considerable increase of the material loaded volume when compared to that of traditional test methods. The experimental and numerical approaches are successfully validated on graphite R4550, also highlighting its capability of characterizing the material nonlinear behaviour, including viscoelasticity and asymmetrical response in tension and compression.