ISO 3312:1987

Overview

ISO 3312:1987 specifies a laboratory method for determining the dynamic (adiabatic) Young’s modulus of sintered metal materials and hardmetals (cemented carbides) by excitation of longitudinal ultrasonic oscillations. This second edition (1987) replaces ISO 3312:1975 and defines the principle, symbols and units, required apparatus, specimen preparation, test procedure, calculation of results and test-report content.

Key topics and requirements

• Test principle: Excite specimens with ultrasonic longitudinal vibrations, identify the resonance frequency corresponding to the fundamental longitudinal mode, and calculate dynamic Young’s modulus from measured parameters.
• Specimen geometry: Minimum length 60 mm; acceptable cross-sections:
  • Cylindrical: diameter 6 ± 0.2 mm
  • Rectangular bar: (6 ± 0.2) mm × (8 ± 0.2) mm
• Surface and dimensional tolerances:
  • Remove surface layer to at least 0.1 mm.
  • Surface roughness Ra < 1.25 µm.
  • End faces planed; parallelism deviation ≤ 0.02 mm.
  • Specimen must be visually free of cracks and cleaned before testing.
• Apparatus:
  • Support/fixture for specimen mounting.
  • Ultrasonic generator adjustable from about 20 kHz to 100 kHz.
  • Device to detect and measure resonance frequency.
• Measurement and accuracy:
  • Density (mass per unit volume) determined per ISO 2738 to 0.01 g/cm3.
  • Length measured to 0.1 mm.
  • Resonance frequency located (fundamental longitudinal) and determined with specified frequency accuracy.
• Result reporting: The standard prescribes the calculation method (Young’s modulus derived from specimen length, density, resonance frequency and geometry), rounding conventions and required test-report items such as reference to ISO 3312, specimen identification, measured values, test result, any non‑standard operations and incidents affecting results.

Applications and users

ISO 3312 is used for:

• Quality control and acceptance testing in powder metallurgy and hardmetal production.
• Material characterization for engineering design and finite element analysis input.
• R&D and comparative testing of sintered alloys and cemented carbides.
• Non-destructive evaluation labs and contract testing laboratories verifying elastic properties.

Typical users include metallurgists, materials engineers, quality assurance teams, test laboratories and manufacturers of sintered components and cutting/tooling materials.

Related standards

• ISO 2738 - referenced for accurate determination of density, oil content and open porosity of sintered metallic materials.

Keywords: ISO 3312, Young’s modulus, dynamic Young modulus, sintered metal materials, hardmetals, ultrasonic resonance, longitudinal oscillations, ISO 2738, specimen preparation, materials testing.