During the 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 given total deflection. This brittle fracture is initiated by a notched welding bead laid on this side and known as the crack starter.
In this Pellini test it is 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 before. If the fracture extends to one of the two side faces, the specimen is considered broken.
