Rationale

The purpose of this ballot is to improve clarity and reduce possible confusion in ASTM E1820, as well as clarify that crack resistance curves can also be obtained from multi-specimen tests, and not just from single-specimen tests. Furthermore, the concepts of “basic procedure” and “resistance curve procedure” are clarified, by referring to the use of non-incremental and incremental equations, respectively, for calculating J integral. It is also made clear that the term “resistance curve procedure” does not only apply to the elastic compliance method, but also to the other two single-specimen techniques (normalization and potential difference), since they also use incremental J equations. Finally, to improve overall consistency, the standard is modified so that “procedure” is always used in conjunction with “multi-specimen” and “single-specimen”, and “method” in conjunction with “elastic compliance”, “normalization”, and “(direct current) electric potential difference”. All changes with respect to the current version are highlighted using “Track Changes”.