Papers are invited for a Symposium on History of Mechanical Testing, to be held Wednesday and Thursday, November 17-18, 2010. Sponsored by ASTM Committee E28 on Mechanical Testing, the symposium will be held at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas, USA, in conjunction with the November 14-17 standards development meetings of Committee E28.

Today's construction codes and other standards (like those that control various parts of our infrastructure and transportation systems) routinely specify various mechanical tests to assure that structures perform as intended. Yet, few members of the public realize the progression in public safety that occurred through the development and refinement of mechanical test procedures, especially during the past 100 years. This symposium is designed to help us understand the historical context (that drove the development of the standards), the individuals who lead their development (and for whom some of the tests are named), and some high-visibility failures (that provided information for later refinements to the standards).

The scope covers the various aspects in the development of mechanical testing procedures and standards. Papers are solicited on, but not limited to, the topics below:

• Historical Framework (rapid growth in industrial technology after 1830) - Railroads, ships, bridges, buildings, etc.
• History of Various Mechanical Test Methods - Strength, toughness, hardness, etc.
• Significant Individuals, such as:
  • Structural designers (such as I.K. Brunel)
  • Standards committee leaders (such as G. Charpy)
  • Equipment manufacturers (such as Wilson Mechanical Instrument Company)
• Significant Failures/Case Studies - Liberty Ships, Tacoma Narrows Bridge, WTC Towers, etc.

The language of the symposium will be English.

To participate in the symposium, presenters/authors must submit online the Abstract Submittal Form and attach a 250-300 word preliminary abstract no later than November 30, 2009. Scroll to the top of the page to "Go to Abstract Submittal Form". To ensure your abstract was received into the ASTM database system, please email hsparks@astm.org stating that your abstract was submitted. The abstract must include a clear definition of the objective and approach of the work discussed, pointing out material that is new, and present sufficient details regarding results. The presentation and manuscript must not be of a commercial nature nor can it have been previously published. Because a limited number of abstracts will be accepted, be sure that the abstract is complete to allow for careful assessment of the paper's suitability for this symposium. Symposium Chairman Tom Siewert will notify you in writing by February 17, 2010 of your paper's acceptability for presentation at the symposium. If the preliminary abstract is accepted, the presenter/author will be requested to submit a final camera-ready abstract several months before the symposium. The final abstracts will be distributed in an abstract booklet at the symposium.

Symposium presenters are required to submit their papers to the Journal of ASTM International (JAI). JAI is an online, peer-reviewed journal for the international scientific and engineering community. You may access information about JAI at www.astm.org/JAI. Additionally, you may wish to review the new web-based submission and peer-review site at http://jai.peerx-press.org. After the final selection of abstracts has been approved, the ASTM Editorial Office will send authors' instructions via email only. Manuscripts to be peer reviewed for JAI are due online no later than November 17, 2010 at the ASTM Editorial Office. The corresponding author (the author who is the main contact with ASTM Headquarters) will receive a copy of his/her paper in portable document format (PDF). All published authors will have the opportunity to purchase reprints of their papers at a nominal cost.

ASTM publishes individual paper(s) in the first available issue(s) of JAI. ASTM also issues a collection of reprinted papers (after publication in JAI) as a Special Technical Publication (STP). (A minimum of ten papers is required for an STP.) Only those papers submitted by the manuscript due date will be included in the STP.

Additional information about the symposium is available from Symposium Co-Chairmen Thomas Siewert, NIST, Boulder, CO, Email: Thomas.siewert@nist.gov; tel: 303-497-3523; Edward L. Tobolski, Wilson Instruments, Wrentham, MA, Email: tobolsed@verizon.net, tel: 508-384-6341; Enrico Lucon, SCK•CEN, Mol, Belgium, Email: elucon@sckcen.be, tel: +32-14-333088; Hugh MacGillivray, Imperial College London, London, UK, Email: h.macgill@imperial.ac.uk; +44-207-594-7089.