MECHANICAL TESTING

Materials Testing downloaded from www.hanser-elibrary.com by Carl Hanser Verlag on September 7, 2015
For personal use only.

Design of an impact testing

machine for polymer films by the
free falling dart procedure

Keywords
Impact, brittle failure, pendulum, tumbling

Impact forces have been used to study the behavior of materials for a
long time. The aim of the impact testing is to investigate those conditions under which a material will fail in a brittle manner regarding a
sudden load. There are three general methods of testing impact resistance of components: falling weight tests, pendulum tests and tumbling
impact tests. In the present study, an attempt has been made to establish an impact tester used to carry out impact testing of plastic films by
free falling dart method. In this, a box of wood with a hole on its upper
side is used on which plastic film is held by clamps and a dart is allowed to fall onto film to note perforation. Then the impact resistance is
statistically calculated. Impact resistance is determined by the energy
caused by weight to fail 50% of specimen. Practical results are found to
be in good agreement with theory.

Testing means the procedure by which the

existence, quality or genuineness of a
product is determined. Testing may be
carried out to assess the performance of
material in relation to its function i. e., to
establish suitability for purpose and to
monitor quality. Impact properties of polymeric materials are directly related to the
overall toughness of the material. Impact
resistance is the resistance offered by
materials to failure under a shock loading or the ability of material to resist
fracture under stress applied at high
speed [3]. Impact energy is a measure of
toughness of the material, the higher the
impact energy is, the higher will be the
toughness of the material and vice versa.
The molecular flexibility plays an important role in determining the relative brittleness or toughness of the material.
Different standards and specifications
have been adopted throughout the world
for testing of plastics. The most popular
standards are American Standards for Materials and Testing (ASTM), British Standards (BS), International Standard Organization (ISO), DIN (German), etc. In present
study, ASTM standard is used. Following

are standardized tests of impact testing on

plastics and their specifications [1, 6]:
1.Izod pendulum impact test (ASTM D-256)
2.
Charpy pendulum impact test (ASTM
D-4812, ISO 179)
3.Chip impact test (ASTM D-4508)
4.Tensile impact test (ASTM D-1822)
5.
High speed impact test (ASTM 3763,
ISO 6603-2)
6.Drop impact resistance of modeled thermoplastic container (ASTM D-2463)
6.Impact testing by falling weight method
a)Impact resistance of flat rigid plastic specimen by means of falling
weight method (ASTM D-5420)
b)Impact resistance of plastic films
by free falling dart method (ASTM
D-1709)
c)Test for impact resistance of thermoplastic pipes and fittings by
means of a tup [3]
Despite the fact that impact tests give a lot
of information regarding behavior of materials under suddenly applied loads, there
are some drawbacks of these tests:
i. All tests employ very thin and small
pieces of samples which are no true
representatives of the bulk.

Muhammad Musaddique
Ali Rafique, Donostia
San Sebastian, Spain
Article Information
Correspondence Address
Muhammad Musaddique Ali Rafique
Centro Fisica de Materiales
Euskal Herriko Unibersitatea/
Universidad del Pais Vasco (EHU/UPV)
Paseo Manuel de Lardizabel 5
20018, Donostia San Sebastian, Spain
E-mail: mrafique001@ikasle.ehu.es

57 (2015) 9 Carl Hanser Verlag, MnchenMaterials Testing

ii. Number of specimens employed is too

high which makes the test tedious as
well as imprecise.
iii. No real measure of the quality of the
specimen is available in these tests
When subjected to impact loading, most
polymers seem to fracture in a characteristic manner. The crack is initiated on
polymer surface due to impact loading.
The energy required to initiate such a
crack is called crack initiation energy. If
the load exceeds the crack initiation energy, crack will continue to propagate
with a certain energy known as crack
propagation energy. A complete failure
occurs when load exceeds crack propagation energy. Thus, both crack initiation
and crack propagation energy contribute
to measured impact energy.
There are four basic types of failures encountered due to impact load:
Brittle fracture: The part fractures extensively without yielding. A catastrophic mechanical failure such as the one in the case
of general purpose, e. g., polystyrene (PS).
Slight cracking: The part shows evidence of
slight cracking and yielding without losing
its shape or integrity.

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MECHANICAL TESTING

Yielding: The part actually yields showing obvious deformation and stress widening, but no cracking takes place.
Ductile fracture: This type of failure is
characterized by definite yielding along
with cracking. Failure in polycarbonate
(PC) is an example.
There are various types of factors which
affect the impact strength of a material [2-4].
Rate of loading. The speed, at which the
specimen is struck with an object, has a
significant effect on the behavior of polymer. At low rates of impact, relatively stiff
materials can still have good impact
strength. All materials seem to have critical velocity above which they behave as
glassy, brittle materials.
Notch sensitivity. A notch in a test specimen or a sharp corner in a fabricated part
drastically lowers the impact energy. A notch
creates a localized stress concentration and
hence results in part failure under impact
loading. All plastics are notch sensitive. The
rate of sensitivity varies with type of plastic.
Thus, in designing plastic parts, notches and
sharp corners should be avoided.
Temperature. The impact behavior of
the plastic material is strongly dependent
upon the temperature. At low temperatures, the impact resistance is reduced
drastically. The reduction in impact resistance is even more drastic near glass transition temperature (Tg) and vice versa.
Orientation. The manner in which polymer molecules are oriented has a major effect on the behavior of polymer. Molecular
orientation in drawn films and fibers may
give extra strength and toughness over the
isotropic material. The impact strength is
always high in the direction of flow.
Processing conditions and type. Processing conditions play an important role
in determining the impact behavior of a
material. Inherent toughness is lost by inadequate processing. High processing temperature can also cause thermal degradation. Compression molded specimens show
a lower impact resistance than injection
molded specimens.
Degree of crystallinity. Increasing the
percentage of crystalllinity decreases the
impact resistance and increases the probability of brittle fracture.

Figure1: Classification
of Impact testing

Molecular weight. Low molecular weight

materials show relatively less impact resistance and vice versa.
Method of loading. The manner in which
part is struck with impact loading device
significantly affects the result. A pendulum
type of impact loading will produce a different result compared to the one produced by
falling weight or high speed ball impact
loading [23].
There are various types of impact tests performed. These can be classified into three
main categories (see Figure1) [1, 3-5]:
1.Noninstrumented impact tests
2.Instrumented impact tests
3.Miscellaneous impact tests
These are further categorized into following types:
1.1Pendulum noninstrumented impact tests
1.2Drop weight noninstrumented impact
tests
2.1Pendulum instrumented impact tests
2.2Drop weight instrumented impact tests
2.3High speed drop weight instrumented
tests
There are further four types of pendulum
noninstrumented impact tests:
1.1.1.Izod-Charpy impact test
1.1.2.Charpy impact test
1.1.3.Tensile impact test
1.1.4.Chip impact test
Pendulum impact tests. The basic principle
of these types of tests is to allow a pendulum
of known mass to fall from a known height,
strike a standard specimen at the lowest
point of its swing and record the height to
which the pendulum continues its swing.
The energy required to break a standard
specimen is equal to energy required for deformation. The result is expressed as ft-lb/
in. Most often a carefully defined notch is
molded into the face to be struck as impact
test is a means for assessing the resistance
of a material to shock where notch is present. These are further four types.
Izod-Charpy impact test. It is used to
measure the relative susceptibility of a
standard specimen to the pendulum type
impact load. The results are expressed in
terms of kinetic energy consumed by pendulum in order to break the specimen. The
specimen used in Izod test must be
notched. The Izod test requires a specimen

to be clamped vertically as a cantilever

beam. The specimen is struck by swing of
pendulum released at a fixed distance from
the specimen clamp. The testing machine
consists of heavy base with a vise for
clamping the specimen in place during the
test. The pendulum is connected to a
pointer and a dial mechanism. A hardened
striking nose is attached to the pendulum.
The impact values are usually calculated
on basis of 1-in thick specimen.
Charpy impact test. This test is conducted in a similar way to the Izod impact
strength test. The only difference is positioning of specimen. In this test, specimen is
mounted horizontally and supported unclamped at both ends. Only the specimen
that breaks completely is considered acceptable. The Charpy impact strength is calculated by dividing indicator reading by the
thickness of specimen. Most common specimen thickness is in, but in is more acceptable. The results are reported in ft-lb/in
for notched and unnotched specimens.
Chip impact test. The chip impact tests
are developed for measuring the effect of
surface microcracking caused by weathering on impact strength retention and also
allow user to measure orientation flow effect. The chip impact strength is similar to
Izod impact test. This test requires use of
pendulum, hammer type of device and a
specimen holding fixture. The test specimen
is 1-in long, -in wide and 0.065-in thick.
The pendulum hammer is released, allowed
to strike the specimen and swing through.
The toughness is proportional to the energy
absorbed during impact, which is measured
by angle of travel of pendulum after impact.
This test is used to measure the relative
toughness of complex shaped parts.
Tensile impact test. Unlike Izod-Charpy
type pendulum impact test, which are limited to thick specimens only, the tensile
impact test allows to determine the impact
strength of very thin and flexible specimens. The present acceptable tensile test
consists of a specimen-in-head type of setup. The energy to break by impact in tension is determined by kinetic energy extracted from pendulum in the process of
breakage of the specimen. The tensile impact testing machine consists of a rigid
massive base with a suspending frame. The
specimen is designed to hold dumbbellshaped specimen so that specimen is not
under stress until the moment of impact.
High rate tension test. This test was developed to overcome difficulties involved in
impact properties by other tests. Initially,
at a high speed such as 20in/min, a good

57 (2015) 9

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MECHANICAL TESTING

correlation was obtained using falling

weight test. The relationship of tensile
strength and elongation with impact energy
of material is evaluated by high rate tension
test. Tensile strength increases and elongation decreases with increase in speed. So,
high rate tension test must be conducted at
a speed suitable to polymer type.
Falling weight impact test. The falling
weight impact test is also known as drop
weight impact test and variable height test.
These employ a falling weight. That falling
weight may be a ball or ball end dart.
The energy required to fail the specimen is
measured by dropping a known weight
from a known height onto a test specimen.
The impact is normally expressed as ft-lb
and is calculated by multiplying weight of
projectile by the height.
Drop impact test. For this method, a free
falling weight is used to determine impact
resistance of material. The test is carried
out by raising weight to a suitable height
manually and then allowing it to fall freely
onto other side of striker. The striker transfers energy to flat test specimen positioned
on the base of machine. Thus, impact resistance is measured directly on the calibrated scale in lb-in.
Free falling dart method (present case).
This is an alternative method for achieving
the same results. A free falling dart is
dropped from a specific height onto test
specimen. The dart of hemispherical head
is used and is fitted using a shaft long
enough to accommodate removable increment weight. A two piece clamp is used to
hold the specimen.
Instrumented impact tests. This is an
advanced form of conventional impact test
and was developed because conventional
test cannot provide additional information
regarding ductility, dynamic toughness,
fracture, yield loads, etc. Instrumented impact test consists of conventional impact
testing apparatus fitted using additional
equipment for measuring and controlling
different variables numerically. Instrumented impact tester immediately displays the results by manipulating information received from sensors in computer.
The most important benefit of the instrumented impact test is that it is time saving
as well as accurate and precise. Instrumented impact testers are widely used in
industry for quality control and ranking of
materials. Instrumented impact testers are
generally suited for R&D as well as advanced quality control.
High Speed Impact test: An ever-increasing demand for engineering plastics and

57 (2015) 9

need for more sophisticated and meaningful impact test methods for characterizing
these products have made possible the invention and use of high speed impact testers. These machines do not only provide
relevant data on the toughness of the material but also provide additional useful results such as load deflection curve and total energy absorbed, etc. Most impact testers are able to test different parts of various
shapes quite easily. The rate of impact in
these machines can be varied from 30 to
570000in/min. The equipment can either
be fitted using simple impact testing assembly or using an environmental chamber for specialized testing. The tester is
equipped with CRT/LCD and x-y plotter
that automatically displays load vs. displacement data. A built-in microprocessor
provides more useful information such as
modulus, yield and failure energies. Highspeed tester has proven very successful in
material evaluation at low temperature and
high rate of loading. Other useful information includes process quality control, design evaluation and assembly evaluation.
Miscellaneous Impact tests: Depending
upon the end use requirement, many different types of impact tests have been devised to stimulate the actual impact conditions. Some of these tests are:
a)Drop impact resistance of a blow molded
thermoplastic container. This is carried
out by dropping conditioned blowmolded containers filled with water from
a platform onto a prescribed surface.
b)Air cannon impact test (ACIT). This is
carried out to determine the toughness of
rigid plastic exterior building components. The test is carried out by impinging small spherical plastic projectiles at
test specimen. PP and PE balls are used
as projectiles. The weight and velocity of
the projectile are used to calculate the impact force absorbed by the test specimen.
To determine the damage tolerance of a
particular panel, a limited energy or rebound test may be performed. These tests
are only possible on drop weight machines,
and involve dropping a known weight from
known height onto the specimen and the

onset of the damage done is readily determined on the load time trace by the bouncing back of dropped weight. There are
other tests for impact resistance but they
are of less importance.

Manufacturing
Design and manufacturing of any machine
involves various types of manufacturing
processes, which demands high degree of
competency, commitment as well as hard
work, a lot of money and time consumption. In designing impact testing machine,
all these items have been experienced. An
effort has been made in limited resources
to produce good results. In this section, an
effort has been made to briefly describe all
manufacturing steps involved in the manufacturing of impact testing machine.
Body (Box):
The body of the machine is made up of
laminated win board ((?)) sheet (size:
884) (see Figure2).
Vertical rod:
Vertical rod for supporting horizontal rod
and dart releasing mechanism is selected
to be of mild steel (M.S) (18 gauge) hollow
pipe with an inside diameter of 1.25 in.
Horizontal rod:
Horizontal rod for supporting dart releasing mechanism assembly is made up
of M.S (18 gauge) hollow pipe of an inside diameter of 0.75 in.
Dart releasing mechanism assembly:
Dart releasing mechanism assembly consists of lever and electromagnet enclosed
in a box. The lever is made up of 0.75 in
wide strip of M.S whereas box is made up
of folded steel sheet with a U clamp on top
of it which is made up of steel strip.
Adjustable bracket:
Adjustable bracket for height adjustment
is made up of casted aluminum cylinder.
Darts:
Darts for impact testing are selected to
be of aluminum (method A) and stainless steel (method B).
Incremented weights:
Incremented weights are made up of brass.
Holding clamps:

Figure2: Laminated
winboard sheet

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MECHANICAL TESTING

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Clamps for holding purpose are selected

to be of pure casted aluminum.
Gripping material:
Material for gripping of polymer films is
rubber and emery paper glued on the
aluminum clamps.
Dart base supports:
Foam (22) is selected as dart base
support material.
Preparation of the box. Firstly, laminated
winboard sheet is cut into 6 pieces of dimensions as shown in Figure2 and described below
upper & lower pieces=22
four side pieces=33
After cutting, pieces are connected with the
help of nails and beaden is glued on all cross
sections. A door of 46 cm length and 32cm
width (see Figure3) is cut in the front side
for removal and recovery of falling dart.
Door is provided with a magnet catching
system for closing and opening.
A circular hole with a diameter of
153mm is cut in the upper side of the box
(see Figure4) below which a support with
a diameter of 127mm is given (for holding
clamps). Four wheels are put below the box
for easy motion.
Box for dart releasing mechanism assembly. The box for the dart releasing assembly is made up of a folded steel sheet
(see Figure5) with the dimensions: length

of 25cm, height of 4cm and width of

16cm. The vertical height for the lever adjustment was 15mm.
Vertical and horizontal pipes. The vertical pipe has a length of 7ft. 2 in and an inside diameter of 1.25 in (see Figure7). A
length of 10 in is threaded to enable a vertical standing of the pipe in the box. Two
nuts with an inside diameter of 1.25 in are
used for preparing the pipe to stand vertically by tightening one from the upper side
and one from the lower side. Horizontal
pipe is of 1ft. length (see Figure6) of
which one side of which is threaded up to
0.75 in length for tightening it up in the
adjustable bracket.
Adjustable bracket. The adjustable bracket
is made up of casted aluminum cylinder
(see Figure8) and has the following dimensions: diameter of 2.0 in, length of 3.0 in.
A hole with a diameter of 1.25 in is drilled
vertically for through passing of vertical
pipe and a 0.75 in hole is also made on
curved side with internal threads for tightening of horizontal pipe. Another hole is
made with internal threads for the sliding
mechanism with the help of a screw.
Clamps. Clamps (see Figure9) are made
up of casted aluminum and are of following
dimensions:
upper clamp: inside diameter of 157mm,
outside diameter of 183mm, thickness
of 13mm, width of 14mm
lower clamp: inside diameter of 127mm,
outside diameter of 153mm, thickness
of 13mm, width of 34mm
These are made by melting pure aluminum
and then pouring the melt in molds using
pattern to get a rough shape and then machining these castings to get required finished shape.

Figure3: Door

Darts. Darts (see Figure10) for impact

testing machine are made up of aluminum
(method A) and stainless steel (method B).
These are made by casting aluminum and
stainless steel blocks and then machining
these castings to get required hemi-spherical finished shape. The dimensions of the
darts are:
Method A: 33mm hemispherical head
Method B: 51mm hemispherical head
Incremented weight. Incremented weights
(see Figure11) for impact testing are made
by casting solid brass cylindrical castings
which were machined to get the finished dimensions. Weight and quantity of each incremented weight used is shown in Table1.
Dart base support. 2ft. wide and 2ft. long
foam sheet is provided as dart base support.
Finishing operations were carried out in the
end to give the machine its final shape.
Wiring. Wiring was carried out to provide the machine with electrical connections for operation of lever system for release of dart. For this purpose, two buttons
(switches) and a light are circuited in such
a manner that switching on first button
starts electricity to run the circuit of the
machine and the light. But the dart releasing mechanism is not connected and does
not work until second button, which is a
spring loaded push button, is pushed. The
second button releases the dart. By switching off first (main) button, machine can be
turned off.

Figure8: Adjustable bracket

Figure6: Horizontal pipe

Figure4: Hole in upper platen

Figure7: Vertical pipe

Figure5: Steel box

Figure9: Clamps

57 (2015) 9

MECHANICAL TESTING

Experimental procedure,
results and discussion

Materials Testing downloaded from www.hanser-elibrary.com by Carl Hanser Verlag on September 7, 2015
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Various types of techniques are applied to

determine the behavior of plastic material
under impact loading. An attempt has been
made to briefly discuss the methods for apparatus preparation and two important
techniques for impact testing of polymer
films have been presented. Also, the methods of calculations after test were discussed in a brief manner. Furthermore,
charts were given for better recording and
presentation of data.

3.For a starting point, missile weight near

the expected impact failure is selected
and then increment weights are added
as required.
4.First test specimen is placed within the
clamps making sure it is aligned and
horizontal.

Number

Weight (g)

16

50

20

15

10

Total

920

Preparation of the apparatus

1.Apparatus s set for testing by method A
or method B.
2.For method A or B, suitable darts are selected.
3.Shaft of dartI is placed in the hock of the
lever and the position of the dart is adjusted just above the center of the film
to be tested and corrected for horizontal
alignment.
4.Dart is released with a trail film and the
point is observed at which dart impacts
the specimen. Position of lever system
is adjusted to achieve center alignment.
5.
Apparatus is checked periodically to
make sure that specimen slippage during test doesd not occur. If still slippage
occurs, it is checked and protected by
either of the following methods.
a.Before dropping the weight on the
clamped specimen, a curved line is
drawn on the circumference of the
film by ball point pen near the inside circumference of the upper
clamp and then another line is
drawn similarily after dropping
weights. This indicates the amount
of slippage which occurred.
b.Protection of slippage can be realized by using either rubber pad or
emery paper on the inner and outer
sides of upper and lower clamps,
respectively.

803

Figure10: Darts

Table1: Incremented weights

Figure11: Incremented weights

Figure12: Graph of
missile weights versus
failures

Weight

ni

i ini

Testing techniques
Stair case testing technique. In this method,
a uniform missile weight increment is employed. During test, missile weight is
changed after each test specimen. The procedure is as follows:
1.Select method A or B and carry out slippage test if necessary to check slippage.
2.
Average specimen thickness is measured and recorded.

57 (2015) 9

165

150
135
120
105

o
x

o
x

o
o

Figure13: Sample sheet

x
o

x
o

x
x

x
o

o
o

x
o

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MECHANICAL TESTING

5.Dart assembly is placed on the hook of

the lever system. Dart is released and
specimen is observed for any change.
6.If slippage occurs, this is the reason for
rejection of the results. Means were provided for avoidance of slippage.
7.Examine the surface of the specimen for
perforation and record the result as 0
for non-failure and X for failure (see
Figure13, Appendix A on standard test
sheet).
8.If the test specimen fails, decrease the
missile weight by W, if not, increase
the weight by W accordingly and continue to test until 20 specimens are
tested.
9.By testing 20 specimens, count the total
number, N, of failures. If N=10, testing
is complete. If not, complete testing as
follows:
a.If N<10, continue testing of additional specimens until N
=
10.
Then stop testing.
b.If N>10, continue testing of additional specimens until the total
number of non-failures (0s) reaches
10, then stop testing.
Calculate the impact failure weight Wf (g),
using following formula:
Wf=Wo + [W (A/N )]

(1)

with Wf: impact failure weight, Wo: missile

weight which initial value is assigned zero,
W: uniform missile weight increment employed, A: sum of all ni values and N: sum
of all ni values (always 10).

Figure 14. Impact

testing machine
(Schematic)

Alternative testing technique

In this technique, successive groups each
with ten specimens are tested. For each
group, one missile weight is used and from
group to group missile weight is varied in
uniform manner. Testing is carried out until
percentage failures for five results are obtained as follows: one 0% result, one 100%
result and at least three results between 0%
and 100%. The procedure is as follows:
1.Method A or B is selected for use according to the requirements.
2.
Set up the apparatus for testing and
slippage test is carried out if necessary.
3.
Average test specimen thickness is
measured and recorded.
4.For a starting point, a missile weight
near the expected impact failure weight
is selected. Necessary incremental
weights are added onto the dart shaft as
required.
5.First specimen is placed between the
clamps making sure that it is uniformly
flat, free of folds and is properly aligned.
6.Dart is placed on the hock of the lever
and released by pushing the button of
electromagnet and impact on the specimen surface is observed.
7.A total of ten specimens at the selected
starting missile weight are tested. Missile weight and percentage failures are
recorded.
8.If the failure result for the first group of
10 specimens is 0 or 100%, missile
weight is increased or decreased by
15g or more for method A and by 45g
or more for method B and another ten
specimens are tested. Procedure is continued in this manner until a failure result between 0 and 100% is obtained.
9.If at this stage, minimum five results
have been obtained, testing is complete.
If not, new missile weight is selected
with increment less than the initial
value. An additional group of specimens
is tested and observed until the minimum of five results has been obtained,
if so, then testing is complete. If not,
still smaller weight increments are selected and abovementioned procedure
is repeated until the minimum of five
results at uniform weight increment has
been obtained.
The failure weight Wf is calculated as follows:
Wf=Wl [W(S/100 ]

(2)

with Wf: impact failure weight, Wl: lowest

missile weight, according to the W used,

at which 100% failure occurred, W: uniform weight increment used and S: sum of
the percentage breaks at each missile
weight, from a weight corresponding to
number of failures up to including Wl.
The impact failure weight can be determined either by statistical method or by
graphical method. A rough chart for Wf determination is given in Figure12 [6].

Determination of Wf
by statistical means
N=10 A=15
Wo= 120 W=15
Wf=Wo + [W(A/N )]
Wf=120 + [15 (15/10 )]
Wf=120 + [15 (1.5 0.5)]
Wf=135 g
Various runs were carried out and results
are shown in Figure12 for Wf obtained by
graphical means. Calculated values and
graphically tabulated values were found to
be in good agreement and proved to be a
good method for measuring total weight to
failure.

Conclusion
When data from impact test was plotted,
many details of the impact phenomenon
became clearly visible in the graphs. For
homogeneous materials, four parameters
are of importance:
Maximum (yield) load: Maximum (yield)
load is simply the highest point on the
load time curve before failure. The
point of MYL often corresponds to the
onset of the material damage or complete failure. However, in some cases
where plastic material is reinforced
with filler such as carbon fir, the peak
load may be higher than the maximum
load. The higher value is not useful to a
design engineer due to extensive damage already done.
Energy to maximum (yield) load: This is
the energy absorbed by the specimen up
to the point of fracture. It is the measure
of the toughness of the material.
Total energy: Total energy is the amount
of energy which specimen absorbs during complete test. This number may be
the same as energy to maximum load
when specimen abruptly fails at the
maximum load point.
Deflection to maximum (yield) load: It is
the distance which a specimen travels
from the point of contact to the point of
maximum deflection.

57 (2015) 9

MECHANICAL TESTING

Lastly, impact test for polymer films by

free falling dart method is a very important
test for determining the behavior of a part
under the influence of different kinds of
impact loads and for measuring the toughness of the material.

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For personal use only.

References
1 H.M. Richardson, F.W. Wilson (Eds.): F
undamental of Plastics, McGraw-Hill Book
Company, New York, USA (1946)
2 M.L. Berins (Ed.): SPI Plastics Engineering
Handbook, 5th Ed., Kulwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, Massachusetts, USA (2002)
3 V. Shah: Handbook of Plastics Testing
Technology, John Wiley & Sons, New York,
USA (1998)
4 I. Rubin (Ed.): Handbook of Plastic Materials
and Technology, John Wiley & Sons, New
York, USA (1990)
5 A.M. Chatterjee: Encyclopedia of Polymer
Science and Engineering, Vol. 2, 2nd Ed., John
Wiley & Sons, New York, USA (1985)
6 ASTM D1709-04 A (ISO 7765-1) and D4272 90
(ISO 7765-2): Standard Test Methods for
Impact Resistance of Plastic Film by the
Free-Falling Dart Method

Abstract
Design einer Aufprallprfmaschine mittels Fallstiftverfahrens fr Polymerfilme. Aufprallbeanspruchungen werden schon seit geraumer Zeit
angewendet, um das Materialverhalten zu untersuchen. Das Ziel der Aufprallprfung besteht darin, die Bedingungen zu untersuchen, unter denen
Werkstoffe unter einer pltzlichen Beanspruchung sprde versagen. Es
gibt generell drei Verfahren, um Objekte bezglich ihrer Schlagfestigkeit
zu prfen: Fallgewichtsversuche, Pendelversuche und Schleuderaufprallversuche. In der diesem Beitrag zugrunde liegenden Studie wurde der
Versuch unternommen, eine Aufpralltestanlage zu etablieren, die verwendet werden kann, um Aufprallversuche mit frei fallenden, spitzen Stiften
durchzufhren. Hierbei wird eine Holzkiste mit einer Bohrung an der
Oberseite verwendet, auf die Plastikfilme mit Spannklauen gehalten werden und auf die ein entsprechender Stift fallen gelassen wird, um die Perforation oder andere Beschdigungen zu ermitteln und daraus statistisch
die Schlagfestigkeit zu ermitteln. Die Schlagfestigkeit wird anhand der
Energie bestimmt, die aus dem Gewicht resultiert, das die Probe zu 50%
beschdigt. Hierbei zeigen die praktischen Versuchsergebnisse gute
bereinstimmung mit den entsprechenden theoretischen Ergebnissen.

Bibliography
DOI 10.3139/120.110779
Materials Testing
57 (2015) 9, pages 799-805
Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
ISSN 0025-5300

57 (2015) 9

The author of this contribution

Muhammad Musaddique Ali Rafique, born 1983,
received his BSc in Engineering with honors in
Pakistan and participated in the EMMS (45

ECTS) in Germany. He is currently awaiting his

MSc degree in the field of nanoscience at the
Centro Fisica de Materiales, Euskal Herriko
Unibersitatea/Universidad del Pais Vasco in San
Sebastian, Spain.

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