This
is a versatile test and can be applied to many types of products that
are available in, or can be cut or shaped into, elongated test beams. The most conventional method is a three-point bend test in which the specimen is supported horizontally at either end like a bridge and a probe moving downwards bends it in the centre. As the specimen bends it stores up strain energy, which is dissipated in cracking at the point of fracture.