Issue 78

A. Sancak et alii, Fracture and Structural Integrity, 78 (2026) 186-206; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.78.11

Figure 1: Representative views of a) the galvanized steel chain and b) the uncorroded impact test specimens.

Charpy specimen preparation and experimental matrix Standard Charpy V-notch specimens were machined with nominal dimensions of 10 × 10 × 55 mm. The V-notch had a depth of 2 mm, an included angle of 45° and a root radius of 0.25 mm, in accordance with the conventional Charpy V notch geometry described in ISO 148-1 [32]. Each experimental condition consisted of three specimens in order to evaluate both the mean absorbed impact energy and the scatter between nominally identical specimens. In Fig. 2, the red highlighted region indicates the approximate extraction area, while the drawing shows the 10 × 10 × 55 mm specimen dimensions and V-notch details. To minimize the possible influence of manufacturing-related plastic deformation, the specimen blanks were extracted from the nominally straight portion of the chain link, away from the curved end regions and the visible weld region, as shown in Fig. 2(a). However, the local plastic deformation associated with the chain-link manufacturing process was not measured; therefore, its presence or magnitude cannot be excluded.

Figure 2: a) Specimen extraction location from the nominally straight portion of the galvanized steel chain link and b) Charpy V-notch specimen geometry. The specimens were grouped according to corrosion medium, exposure duration, test temperature and notch timing. In the uncorroded reference condition, specimens were tested at 23, 0, − 20 and − 40 °C. For the corrosion-exposed conditions, specimens were immersed in either substitute seawater or seawater for 10 or 30 days. Charpy impact tests of the corrosion exposed specimens were mainly performed at 0 °C. Additional specimens exposed to seawater for 30 days were tested at 23

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