Synopsis
In modern manufacturing and quality control processes, the rapid and reliable determination of mechanical properties of materials is very important. This need becomes even more critical in
industries such as automotive and aerospace, where lightweight metallic materials are widely used. Conventional tensile testing is one of the most reliable methods for determining mechanical
properties. However, it has some disadvantages such as the need for specimen preparation, long testing procedures, and the destructive nature of the test. On the other hand, indentation-based testing methods offer faster and less damaging alternatives, but they often provide limited information about tensile properties.
In this study, the applicability of the imprint tensile testing method, based on DIN SPEC 4864, for determining the mechanical properties of metallic materials was investigated. This method is based on creating a controlled indentation on the material surface using a spherical or sphero-conical indenter under a defined load. The three-dimensional geometry of the resulting imprint is measured and evaluated using inverse engineering approaches and finite element analysis in order to analyze the plastic deformation behavior of the material. As a result of this analysis, fundamental mechanical properties such as yield strength (Rp0.2) and ultimate tensile strength (Rm) can be determined.
Within the scope of the study, experiments were carried out using the Aletec imprint testing system on samples prepared by Döktaş, and the results were compared with conventional tensile test data. Preliminary results show that the imprint method can estimate mechanical properties in a very short time (within a few minutes) and significantly reduce the need for specimen preparation.
The results indicate that the imprint test method has strong potential to be used in quality control processes as a fast and localized testing method for metallic materials. Future studies will focus on improving measurement repeatability, expanding the material database for different material groups, and further validating the correlation between imprint results and conventional tensile testing.
