The Tearing Strength of Mild Steel Plate

Abstract

The penetration of a thin plate from the side by a sharp rigid wedge is considered. A formula is proposed which expresses the external work done in terms of the depth of penetration and the wedge angle. The external work is decomposed into two parts: a part related to the length of cut plate and a part related to the amount of plastically deformed material. This decomposition introduces two material coefficients and two exponents which describe the dependence of each energy function on the plate thickness. The results of 70 impact tests are presented which verify the validity of the proposed formula and which have also been used to determine the aforementioned material constants and exponents for mild steel.