THE FALLING WEIGHT IMPACT TEST APPLIED TO SOME GLASS-FIBER REINFORCED NYLONS .1. APPRAISAL OF THE METHOD

Tests and experiments carried out in three laboratories on five glass-fiber reinforced nylon compounds have shown that relatively small differences in the electrical filtering lead to important differences in the observed response curves and to the interpretations placed on them. As a consequence, at a superficial level interlaboratory agreement is not good, but when the curves are properly interpreted in the light of supplementary information derived by techniques such as flash photography during the fracture process and low energy impact the agreement is much closer. The overall picture that emerges is that the method is reliable and informative, far more so than the uninstrumented method which now stands virtually discredited by the new evidence.