Specimen Notching and Broaching Machine

It cuts the notch into Charpy and Izod impact specimens before they go to the pendulum. The machine is a dual-chamber motorised broaching unit, floor mounted and self contained, operated from a panel on the frame.

The notch is not a detail. Impact energy is measured on a specimen that is designed to fail at that notch, so its depth, angle and root radius decide the number the pendulum reports.

It sits directly before the impact test in the workflow, alongside our pendulum impact testing equipment.

Four. The V profile is 2 mm deep with a 45 degree included angle, tolerance plus or minus 2 degrees, and a root radius of 0.25 mm plus or minus 0.025 mm.

Three U profiles cover the rest: U2 at 2 mm deep, U3 at 3 mm and U5 at 5 mm, each 2 mm wide with a 1 mm root radius, tolerance plus or minus 0.05 mm.

The V profile is what most Charpy and Izod work is reported against. The U profiles are there for laboratories working to GB/T and GOST requirements. On the machine's own profile drawing the U5 notch is dimensioned against ISO 148 and Type C of ASTM E23, so the profile you order follows from the method you report against.

The broaching knives are precision ground to the requirements of ASTM E23, and the profile drawing on the product page dimensions the U5 notch against ISO 148 and Type C of ASTM E23.

Geometry alone is not the whole story. The notch has to be square to the specimen face as well as correctly shaped, which is what the fixed chamber and the guided broach travel are for.

If your procedure calls up a specific edition, confirm it before ordering tooling: contact us.

Two. The dual broaching system takes two blanks per cycle and finishes them in seconds.

For a laboratory running impact tests in sets, that halves the handling as much as the cutting time, because specimens are loaded, cut and removed in pairs rather than one at a time.

Broach travel is 340 mm plus or minus 10 mm at 2 to 3 m per minute, so cycle time stays consistent across a batch.

The standard Charpy blank at 10 by 10 by 55 mm, plus the reduced-thickness variants at 7.5, 5 and 2.5 mm.

That covers the sub-size specimens used when material thickness will not allow a full 10 mm section, which is common on thin plate, tube wall and welded coupons.

The blank still has to arrive at the correct length and squareness. The machine cuts the notch, it does not correct a specimen that was milled out of tolerance.

The specification table gives a specimen hardness limit of HRC 42 for the GenNotch 4000 Series.

Separately, the broaching knives are ground for materials across a range from 34 HRC to 48 HRC, so knife capability and the machine's stated specimen limit are two different numbers and are worth reading as such.

If your blanks run near or above HRC 42, send the material and hardness with your enquiry and we will confirm the tooling before you order: contact us.

They are precision ground notching and broaching knives manufactured to meet ASTM E23 requirements, supplied by profile, so you order the V or the U type your work calls for.

Service life depends on the material being cut and how close it runs to the hardness limit. A knife cutting soft carbon steel lasts considerably longer than one cutting hardened material at the top of its range.

Many knives are cross compatible with other systems, but that is worth confirming rather than assuming. Send your current part number and we will check it.

Yes, knives are part of the consumables offering for the machine and are ordered by notch profile.

Laboratories running steady volume usually keep a spare of each profile they cut, because a worn knife shows up as a degraded root radius before it shows up as a failure, and that quietly moves impact results.

To price a set against your usage, request a quote.

Three phase, five line, AC 220 V plus or minus 10 percent at 50 Hz. Power consumption is 350 W.

The low draw is worth noting: the broaching cut itself is short, so the machine does not impose the electrical load its size might suggest.

If your site runs a different supply, raise it before the order so the machine ships configured correctly: contact us.

A circulating lubricating oil system with an interchangeable oil charge. The specified hydraulic oil is L-HM46 anti-wear, and the volume is 20 litres.

Circulation matters for notch quality as much as for the machine. A dry or contaminated cut leaves a rougher root surface, and the root is exactly where the specimen is meant to fail predictably.

Oil condition is the main routine maintenance item on the machine, ahead of anything mechanical. The oil circulates rather than sitting in a sump, and the 20 litre charge is interchangeable, so it is replaced as a unit rather than topped up.

The machine measures 58 by 40 by 114 cm, or 22.83 by 15.75 by 44.90 inches, and weighs 200 kg or 440 pounds.

It is floor mounted and self contained, so it needs a footprint and a supply rather than a bench and an external hydraulic unit.

Height suits standing operation at the loading chambers, which is how specimens are handled in a pair. Plan the supply alongside the footprint: three phase, five line, AC 220 V plus or minus 10 percent at 50 Hz, drawing 350 W.

A broaching cut delivers notch quality equivalent to a milling machine, but as a fixed cycle rather than a setup an operator has to reproduce each time.

On a mill, notch depth and angle depend on cutter condition, fixturing and how carefully the last operator worked. On the GenNotch the geometry comes from the knife and the guided travel.

That difference shows up in impact scatter. A notch cut half a degree off, or 0.1 mm deep, moves the reported energy without anyone seeing an obvious mistake.

Yes, and it is one of the larger sources of scatter in Charpy testing. The root radius is the sensitive dimension, which is why ASTM E23 tolerances it as tightly as it does.

A root that is too sharp concentrates stress further and lowers absorbed energy. A root that is too generous or rough spreads the initiation and raises it.

This is why laboratories that chase repeatability on the pendulum eventually look upstream at how the notch was cut.

Yes. The machine is designed for cutting Charpy and Izod V type and U type notches, and the profile is set by the knife rather than by the machine.

The difference between the two tests is in how the specimen is held and struck on the pendulum, not in the notch geometry the broach produces.

Which profile your work needs comes from the standard you report against. Our pendulum impact systems list the methods each frame covers.

Seconds per pair. Broach travel is 340 mm at a speed of 2 to 3 metres per minute, and two specimens are cut in the same pass.

In practice the limiting factor in a batch is loading and unloading rather than the cut, which is the reason the dual chamber matters more than raw broaching speed.

For a laboratory preparing sets of three or more specimens per condition, that adds up across a shift, and the pair comes off the machine ready for the pendulum with no deburring step in between.

A finished specimen with the notch cut square to the face, ready for the pendulum without a secondary operation.

No deburring or dressing step is designed into the workflow. The notch is the last feature cut before the impact test.

If you are building a full preparation line from blank to broken specimen, we can quote the notching machine alongside the pendulum: request a quote.

The one your results are reported against, because it fixes the notch profile. Most Charpy work names ASTM E23 or ISO 148-1.

Where a customer specification calls up ASTM A370 for a product form, the impact requirement inside it still points back to E23 for the specimen and the notch.

Send the standard and the specimen drawing together and the quotation will include the matching knife rather than a default one.

The interface is built for straightforward operation, and a trained operator can run a cycle without difficulty. The handover time goes into knife changes, oil condition and how to verify a notch.

Verification is the part worth covering properly, because a knife degrades gradually rather than failing outright.

We can run the session on your own blanks rather than demonstration pieces: contact us.

Routine attention goes to the lubricating oil, which circulates and is interchangeable, with a 20 litre charge of L-HM46 anti-wear oil.

Beyond that the consumable item is the broaching knife, replaced by profile when the cut quality drops rather than on a fixed interval.

Because the machine is self contained there is no separate hydraulic power unit to service alongside it. Replacement knives are ground to ASTM E23 requirements and ordered by profile, so a change restores the original geometry rather than an approximation of it.

Notching is one half of impact testing, and the specimens this machine produces go straight to a Charpy or Izod pendulum.

Matching the two matters: the notch profile you cut has to be one the pendulum's method covers, and the specimen size has to suit the anvil and striker.

Our range is listed under pendulum impact testing equipment, and we can quote a preparation and testing pair together: request a quote.