During the W.S. Pellini test, weights fall onto a rectangular flexure specimen supported at both ends, causing a brittle fracture on the tensile side of the specimen within a prescribed total deflection. This brittle fracture is initiated by a notched welding bead laid on this side and known as the crack starter.
It is then determined whether the brittle fracture caused by the artificial crack-starter spreads as far as one of the two side faces of the specimen or is arrested beforehand. If the fracture extends to one of the two side-faces, the specimen is regarded as broken.
