Materials · Mechanical Testing
DIY Charpy Impact Tester
Intermediate 4 weeks 25-35 hours
Build a pendulum impact tester and break notched samples at room and freezer temperature to see the ductile-to-brittle transition.
Major
Materials
Focus area
Mechanical Testing
Total hours
25-35 hours
What you'll need
- plywood sheet for frame
- steel weight for pendulum
- rotary encoder module for Arduino
- Arduino Uno R3 ATmega328P microcontroller board
- 16x2 LCD display module with I2C for Arduino
- PLA PETG 3D printer filament 1.75mm for samples
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Steps
- Design and build a pendulum frame with a fixed release height and sample anvil.
- Mount the rotary encoder at the pivot to measure swing angle.
- Program the Arduino to calculate absorbed energy from the start and end angles.
- Make notched samples from PLA, PETG, and other plastics.
- Break samples at room temperature and after freezing and compare energy absorbed.
- Photograph fracture surfaces and document the results for your portfolio.
What to photograph for your portfolio
- Pendulum tester
- notched samples
- fracture surfaces
- energy absorbed chart
Resume bullet starters
Copy one, then swap in your own numbers.
Built a Charpy-style pendulum impact tester that measures absorbed energy with an encoder
Tested [X] materials at 2 temperatures and showed a [X]% drop in toughness when cold
Quantified results with [insert your result, such as hardness change, strength, efficiency, or error vs published values] and summarized findings in a technical report
Skills you'll show off
Impact testingmachine designfracture mechanicsArduinodata analysis