Problem with Appendix A, USFA 2004 Rule Book

[howtobrew]

Originally Posted by DHCJr

What is required to be in it can be found in Appendix A of the rule book, page 70 of the USFA rulebook.

I am a metallurgical engineer by trade, and as I was reading the 2004 Rule book Appendix A, to see which Maraging Steel the USFA specifies (C-300 alloy), I noticed that on Page 71, the Requirements refer to a "Traction Test". I do not know what this test is, althought it may be a notched tensile test.

At any rate the Tensile Test (4.3) and Fracture Toughness Test (4.4) seem to point to the wrong illustrations on page 78 (Figure A6). Primarily, the upper illustration is a standard representation of a Tensile Test bar. The lower illustration is a standard representation of a Charpy V Notch bar for Fracture Toughness of high toughness metals, not a tensile specimen.

Which brings up another issue, these bars are not "Test Devices", but Test Specimens. I wonder if this section was translated from the FIE perhaps??

Who would I contact at USFA to sort these problems out? It seems like these problems could have Olympic ramifications if manufacturers blades are "certified" to an erroneous specification.

Thanks,
John

[Craig]

Well, the USFA doesn't certify blades, the FIE does, so that's not going to really be an issue.

[DHCJr]

As Craig stated this is not an USFA issue but an FIE. All the drawings are throughout the rule book come directly from the FIE rule book. Only the words are translated.

[howtobrew]

Ah. The curse of being an engineer....

[KD5MDK]

You might still contact the USFA to get the translations clarified.

[JEC]

If our recent experience with foil "off target" timings is a representative example of committee patchwork for FIE rules, the problem is most likely NOT a translation issue.