Impact Testing Solutions

For Component Applications

Impact Testing Solutions Brochure

Table of Contents

You have selected your material, finalized your design and fabricated your prototypes. The next step is to test your component to ensure that it will perform under all anticipated field conditions. You know that your component will be exposed to routine collisions, accidental drops or repeated impacts in the field, but how can you simulate these conditions in a laboratory environment with "traditional" impact test equipment? Furthermore, does your impact test setup provide you with the detailed information you need to fully understand how your component will respond to these impact events?

An Impact Industry Pioneer

Impact performance can be one of the most important properties for a component designer to consider - and also the most difficult to quantify. For over 25 years, Instron Dynatup has maintained an exclusive focus in the materials testing industry, providing instrumented drop-weight testers that help manufacturers:

g Simulate real-world impact events on their finished components g Collect detailed technical information about how their components

perform during these impact events This brochure features examples from the broad array of industries and applications in which Dynatup solutions are being used to help specify, develop and test finished products and components. As you read further, you will get a better sense of how Instron Dynatup can help you with your particular real world impact challenge.

Beyond Traditional Testing

Pages 4 - 5
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Aerospace and Defense

Pages 6 - 7

Automotive
Pages 8 - 9

Construction
Pages 10 - 11

Consumer Goods
Pages 12 - 13

Electronics
Pages 14 - 15

Industrial
Pages 16 - 17

Medical
Pages 18 - 19

Sporting Goods
Pages 20 - 21

Product Portfolio
Pages 22 - 23

Test Specification Index

Page 24
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Table of Contents

Beyond Traditional Testing

Impact testing was originally developed to determine the fracture characteristics of raw materials under high strain rates. Standard test methods designed for pendulums and simple drop weight testers require specific equipment design, specimen geometry and analysis of results. For many materials, the act of processing them into finished components directly affects their impact performance characteristics. Standard test methods such as Charpy, Izod and Gardner are important tools for raw material research and quality control, but they provide little value to engineers seeking to understand how their finished components perform in real-world impact situations. Many leading manufacturers today are utilizing more sophisticated techniques for validating the impact performance of their finished components. To support this trend, test equipment manufacturers have developed modern drop weight instruments designed to simulate a wide variety of real-world impact conditions and collect detailed performance data for R&D or quality control applications.

Finished components can have very different impact performance characteristics than raw material specimens. In the case of molded plastics, for example, any of the following variables can affect how the finished component reacts to impact loading:
g g g g g

Molded-in stresses Parting lines Gate areas Geometry Coloring agents Testing raw material specimens may not provide information suitable or sufficient to solve component-level problems.

Impact Simulation:
Energy, Geometry and Environment In many component applications, it is impractical to recreate a real world impact event in a laboratory setting. Advanced drop weight impact testers with variable mass, height and velocity configurations solve this dilemma by enabling engineers to simulate the impact energy of real-world objects. With impact energy reproduced, a custom striker is utilized to simulate the physical profile of the impacting object. A matching fixture is also developed to reconstruct the support geometry of the component in its application environment. Real-world impact events may also occur under a variety of environmental conditions. To ensure further accuracy of the test, product developers have the option of utilizing an integrated environmental chamber to condition the component prior to or during the test. Additional benefits of drop weight test instruments include:
g Flexibility for simulating a wide variety of real-world impact

events to provide a strong return on investment

g Repeatability for consistent testing and analysis of results over

time and across multiple sites

g Suitability for the modern laboratory environment with

integrated safety and ergonomics features

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Instron Dynatup's 9250HV delivers a broad range of impact energies and can be fitted with a custom base, custom strikers, fixtures and an environmental chamber for simulating real-world impact events on almost any component.

The Benefits of Information Instrumented impact testing offers engineers, scientists and quality managers visibility to performance data that are otherwise unavailable from less sophisticated pass/fail techniques. More importantly, sophisticated plots of these data can help a product manufacturer identify important component-level impact characteristics, such as:
g Initial break point of internal fibers in a composite aerospace component g Total deflection of a polymer panel designed for an automotive body application g Force required to deform a metal implant tool used in a high-risk surgical procedure

This information can be critical knowledge for a development team trying to debug unknown field failures or validate a new product for launch. Engineers who rely on simple pass/fail testing to solve impact problems can over-design a component, needlessly adding cost or compromising performance in other areas. Without truly understanding impact behavior, it can also be difficult to gain confidence about a product when safety is a concern. Detailed, quantifiable information about impact performance at the component level empowers manufacturers to make better-informed decisions about product design to improve quality, safety, performance and cost.

Instrumented testing can have a rapid return on investment and help manufacturers improve their bottom line by reducing time and cost burdens associated with less sophisticated pass/fail techniques. Trial-and-error impact experiments can require:
g Large quantities of specimens g Time-consuming iteration g Labor-intensive data collection

and analysis Sophisticated drop weight test instruments can dramatically improve the efficiency of a test program by reducing uncertainty and minimizing the amount of time and material required to obtain meaningful results.

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Dynatup Impulse instrumentation kit.
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Instron Dynatup's Impulse data acquisition and analysis system is specifically designed for impact testing. The Impulse system utilizes a specially designed impact force transducer (tup), falling mass velocity detector and signal conditioning electronics unit to collect data from a test event. A powerful integrated software package processes this data and presents detailed graphs and tables reporting force, energy, velocity and deflection results.

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Dynatup Impulse data acquisition and analysis software.

Beyond Traditional Testing

Instrumented Testing:

Aerospace and Defense

Aerospace and defense vehicles face unique and intense operating environments. Materials engineered for structural applications must be highly capable of absorbing rapidly applied forces. During the course of normal operation, commercial or military aircraft can be hit by runway debris, hail or maintenance tools. A minor impact from any of these objects can cause significant internal damage to a structural component and lead to performance failure. Internal to the vehicle, instrumentation is also at risk. Crewmembers or loose objects can strike sensitive navigation and control equipment during turbulent operating conditions. Impact testing early in the R&D phase helps ensure that proper materials and geometries are selected to perform during any of these impact events.

Visual Displays
The Challenge
Low-power, high-resolution liquid crystal display technology is widely used in commercial and military applications to help vehicle pilots navigate and control their environment. LCDs are thin and light, making them ideal for instrumentation in weight-sensitive aerospace and defense vehicles. Cockpits and dashboards containing LCD instrumentation can be struck repeatedly by boots, knees, elbows or other objects during harsh operating conditions found in military applications. A damaged LCD can leave crew members without a critical piece of equipment necessary to pilot or defend the vehicle. To avoid such complications, manufacturers rely on instrumentation suppliers to design and test their LCD products for superior impact performance.

Our Solution
LCD manufacturers want to experiment with different materials and layer configurations to determine resistance to common impacts. For one application, Instron installed a 9250HV drop tower with an oversized base designed for mounting a variety of customer-supplied fixtures. To simulate single impacts delivered by the heel of a military boot, the machine was fitted with a 20 mm flat-faced striker and pneumatic rebound brake.

This flexible test configuration helped an R&D team characterize and compare the impact failure modes of various layers within their LCD products. For example, curve data from one series of tests alerted engineers to hidden internal delamination that would not be obvious under simple visual inspection. Instron data helped steer future test strategies to improve impact performance.

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Multiple visual displays can be found in the cockpits of aerospace and defense vehicles.

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A prototype LCD screen with impact damage pattern caused by a 20 mm flat-faced striker.

Structural Composites
The Challenge
Designers must keep the weight of aircraft components as low as possible while maintaining their structural integrity and safety. Modern composite materials have high stiffness and strength-to-weight ratios, making them well suited for use in aerospace component applications. Fuselage and wing assemblies, however, must be resilient to impact events resulting from hail, flying debris, birds and dropped tools. Inside the passenger and cargo areas, impact forces resulting from dropped luggage, beverage cart bumps and even high-heel shoes can place significant stress on component panels. While any one of these impacts may not cause visible damage to the component, failure can occur internal to the composite material resulting in a permanent structural weakness that can propagate under high stress operating conditions and lead to catastrophic failure of the component. Standard tests such as Airbus AITM 1.0010 and Boeing 7260 measure the effects of single impact events on the strength of small composite specimens. To properly understand the performance of larger structures and assembly geometries, however, engineers require test equipment and instrumentation that is more flexible and versatile, yet still easy-to-use and safe to operate.

Our Solution
Instron Dynatup 's 9250 series drop tower is ideal for testing composite materials not only according to industry standards, but also in the form of finished components such as structural beams, door assemblies and wing panels. Standard Airbus, Boeing and other test fixtures and strikers are easily mounted to the machine. For single-impact testing common in aerospace applications, a pneumatic rebound brake is also provided.

To accommodate larger components, Instron can supply unique I-beam support structures for 9250 drop towers, along with integrated safety features to ensure operator protection. In all composite material test applications, The Dynatup Impulse instrumentation system provides critical design information about the specimen, including the incipient damage point caused by different types of impacts. This knowledge helps engineers specify the proper material, process and assembly geometry for composite-based aerospace components.
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Impulse data acquisition and analysis software revealing hidden incipient damage on a composite aerospace component during impact.

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9250HV test instrument fitted with custom I-beam support table for testing aircraft door and fuselage sections.

Aerospace and Defense

Automotive

Advances in materials science have enabled auto manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency without sacrificing performance or safety. As lightweight alloys, protective coatings and high performance adhesives become common in automotive design, these new material applications require creative impact test methods for research, development and validation. The automotive industry remains one of the most common and vulnerable to impact events. Depending on the component, impact damage can have a minor effect on appearance or lead to a major failure in vehicle safety.

Bumpers and Supports

The Challenge
Automotive bumper assemblies play a critical role in vehicle safety. Designed to absorb and dissipate energy from accidental impacts with other automobiles or stationary objects, front bumper assemblies protect the engine from being forced into the passenger compartment and causing harm to passengers. In many vehicles, the supports fastening the bumper to the chassis are made from steel. A lower weight material will help improve the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, but may not perform as well during an impact. To compare and qualify alternative materials for bumper components, manufacturers need test equipment to simulate automotive collisions and measure the resulting impact performance characteristics.

Our Solution
With an application-specific fixture designed by the customer, Instron delivered a high-energy model 8150 drop tower to test both individual extruded bumper supports and complete bumper assemblies. The base plate of the tower was modified to accommodate the size of the customer's fixture and included custom clamping wedges to position the extrusions for testing.

For data collection, Instron worked with the customer to design a unique load cell (tup) with multiple piezo sensors and a custom striker to replicate the profile of a car bumper. With this complete impact test system, the customer was able to accurately simulate bumper-to-bumper collisions and compare the resulting energy absorbed and deflection performance of alternative materials.

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Bumpers crushed after impact test.

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Close-up of application-representative fixturing system for mounting bumpers and supports.

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Model 8150 drop tower with custom-designed striker and fixture system for testing full-size automotive bumpers.

Adhesives
The Challenge
As automotive design evolves, adhesives are rapidly replacing mechanical fasteners as a conventional solution for joining many metals, plastics, rubbers and glass. Specially formulated adhesives used to bond structural frame assemblies, windshields and other components can offer improved aesthetics, quieter interiors and reduced manufacturing costs. With increased use of adhesives, however, automotive and adhesives supplies must develop new test protocols to ensure the structural integrity of the bonds under all possible field conditions. Impact forces in a crash may cause bonded areas of the frame or windshield to fail, resulting in serious injury to vehicle passengers.

Our Solution
Automotive and adhesives supplies commonly use ISO 11343 wedge impact method testing to compare the relative effects of various product and process variables on impact performance. Instron has developed standard and custom test configurations based on ISO 11343, including a unique support fixture and striker arrangement to impact windshield specimens bonded to auto frame components. Packaged with an Instron SFL environmental chamber, this impact system enabled an adhesives R&D team to experiment with different material compositions, cure conditions and climatic temperatures to optimize product performance and comply with government regulations.

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Automotive windshields are bonded to the frame with high performance adhesives.

Paints and Coatings

The Challenge
Many of today's exterior automotive components such as doors, fenders and bumpers are made from advanced polymer materials. Special coatings have been engineered to improve the performance of these plastics in harsh automotive environments where impacts are a common occurrence. Bumpers are frequently struck by stones and other road debris, while doors and fenders can be bumped by shopping carts and other vehicles in a parking lot. Automotive coatings play an important role in resisting these impacts. Because they can alter properties of the underlying material such as ductile-to-brittle transition point, coatings must be thoroughly impact tested at ambient and extreme conditions to identify the most effective formulation and application process. An improperly specified automotive paint can peel, crack and embrittle the base material, weakening the overall impact resistance of the component.

Our Solution
Instron configured an instrumented 9250HV drop tower to perform application-specific impact tests derived from ASTM D 3763 and GM9904P standards. Round plaques made from different automotive plastics were mounted in a pneumatic clamping fixture and tested at several energy levels and velocities to obtain baseline data. Additional plaques coated with various automotive paints were then impacted under similar conditions. The resulting data helped a product development team quantify the effects of different coatings on the brittleness of unpainted plastics. To supplement this valuable R&D information, Instron provided an integrated environmental chamber for conditioning specimens to high and low temperature extremes prior to and during testing.

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Automotive paints face harsh environments where impacts from road debris are a common occurence.

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Plastic specimen coated with automotive paint clamped in pneumatic fixture for impact testing.

Automotive

Construction

Products used in construction applications face demanding environments. To maintain proper visual appeal and structural integrity, components must be engineered to withstand a great variety of static and dynamic loads. Over its lifetime, a construction component may be impacted by objects such as hail, tree branches and dropped power tools. In recent years, manufacturers have developed innovative construction materials that combine improved weather resistance and aesthetics with reduced maintenance costs. Consumers pay a premium for such materials and expect superior performance. Impact damage can be visually unappealing, expensive to repair and even structurally unsafe.

Vinyl Siding
The Challenge
Homeowners looking to remodel the exterior of their house often turn to vinyl siding for its natural beauty, low maintenance, resilience to weather and resistance to insects. Understanding that consumers also value design flexibility, manufacturers must offer a portfolio of styles and colors that is distinct but commonly impact-resistant. Vinyl siding must be able to withstand accidental impacts from tools and rough handling during installation. Over the lifetime of the home, the product must then be durable enough to resist rain, ice and other weatherinduced impacts such as falling tree branches. Vinyl siding panels are also likely to receive sudden blows from objects such as lawn furniture, children's toys, balls and rocks ejected from a lawnmower. Damaged vinyl siding panels are unsightly and awkward to replace. Unrepaired cracks can propagate allowing penetration of insects and harmful moisture.
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Vinyl siding can improve the beauty of a home, but must be durable to withstand a wide variety of impacts.

Our Solution
Instron configured a 9250HV drop tower to perform ASTM D 4226, an industry-specified test for identifying the energy required to fracture a specimen of PVC vinyl siding material. The Impulse instrumentation package collected detailed data plots comparing the relative performance levels of
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vinyl panels with different surface textures and color additives. While the ASTM standard prescribes a nominal striker and support geometry, alternative tooling was developed to better simulate and study the effects of balls, rocks and drills impacting the vinyl siding samples at various velocities and drop heights.

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9250HV with large base and environmental chamber for testing construction materials at temperature.

The Challenge
Modern architectural roof designs in both residential and commercial buildings have driven the development of new lightweight synthetic roofing materials. Available in a wide variety of styles, colors and textures, today's man-made roof tiles are highly durable and often guaranteed by manufacturers to last over 50 years. More than any other exterior building surface, a roof is most vulnerable to impacts from weather-driven objects such as tree debris and ice. Synthetic roof tiles cracked by impacting objects will allow moisture to penetrate and decay the underlying structure, with costly implications for replacement. Increasing tile thickness arbitrarily can improve impact performance, but designers must consider the additional weight and cost of material inherent in this simplistic approach. Impact performance needs to be quantified accurately in order to optimize design variables.

Our Solution
Instrumented impact testing was performed at various energy levels on different synthetic tile designs to identify the onset of incipient damage. Test parameters were set to identify specific impact conditions that would cause internal cracking not visible in a finished roof construction. To ensure accuracy of the application, Instron designed a custom support fixture made from wood to recreate the actual tile-to-roof assembly specification. Testing revealed several instances of product failure that would not have been identified on less sophisticated test equipment.

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Simply increasing the thickness of roof tiles to improve impact performance can result in unnecessary weight and cost.

Composite Decks
The Challenge
Outdoor decks are heavy-use structures that are exposed to harsh environments and frequent impact events that must be factored into product design. To reduce maintenance costs and improve aesthetics and durability, innovative manufacturers have developed new composite decking materials comprised of recycled plastic and natural wood fibers. Both during and after the installation process, the composite deck boards must be able to withstand a wide variety of impacts from weather, human use, and falling objects such as tools and furniture. If a composite board is damaged by an impact, the structural integrity and safe use of the deck may be compromised.
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Composite deck specimens with impact damage caused by 1-inch hemispherical strikers.

Our Solution
To simulate a hammer falling from a rooftop onto a deck, Instron mounted a 1-inch hemispherical striker to the crosshead of a 9250HV test instrument and performed testing from an energy-equivalent height and weight. High velocity hailstone impacts were also recreated by utilizing a smaller striker and lightweight crosshead together with an increased drop height. Though a standard fixture was used to test sample composite specimens in this case, a custom support structure could have been developed to simulate and test actual support geometries used in deck constructions.

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Construction

Roofing Tiles

Consumer Goods

Many consumer products are manufactured in high volume for sale worldwide. From the factory floor to retail store shelves, these products (and their packaging) must withstand a variety of impacts during the transportation and handling process on trucks and in warehouses. Once in the home, consumer products can experience accidental drops, kicks or bumps in the course of normal use. At stake for a manufacturer is brand image. In a highly competitive marketplace, products burdened with a reputation for poor quality are less likely to survive. When safety issues are involved, a large recall prompted by impact failures can also erode brand image and sink profitability.

Food Packaging and Storage

The Challenge
To package beef, chicken and other meats for retail sale, butchers utilize foam trays that are lightweight and inexpensive to produce. Rough handling of the meat packages by grocery store clerks or customers, however, can easily cause bends or cracks in the corners of the trays. Packages of perishable foods that have been damaged by an impact are avoided by customers, resulting in unsold and wasted inventory for retailers. In the home, reusable plastic containers sold in a wide range of shapes, sizes and colors are popular for preparing and storing food. Designed for use in refrigerators, freezers, microwave ovens and dishwashers, these versatile containers must withstand harsh temperature extremes without deterioration. Cold containers can easily crack or split when dropped. Hot containers can become too soft and easily separate from a lid. In either case, the resulting food spills or contamination leads to customer frustration.
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Plastic and foam food containers must endure temperature extremes and accidental drops.

Our Solution
Instron Dynatup teamed to develop a versatile fixture designed to grip foam trays in various orientations beneath a custom striker. This flexible setup enabled an R&D team to simulate impacts at different angles on the most vulnerable design feature of the trays the corner. Instrumentation helped the team determine the maximum load and deflection values of different tray materials, thicknesses and designs.

For reproducing conditions in a freezer or microwave oven, a Dynatup EC 8250 Environmental Chamber was installed to help engineers measure the effects of temperature on the ductility of plastic food containers. Products can be mounted and impacted directly inside the chamber to test for energy absorption characteristics and material failure in vulnerable areas such as corners, edges and mold gates.

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The Challenge
Powdered detergent tablets designed for home use in washing machines and dishwashers are popular with consumers who value the small size and convenience of premeasured quantities. For manufacturers and retailers, the advantages of tablets over traditional boxes of loose detergent include more efficient packaging size, transportation and storage. Detergent tablets are vulnerable to impacts experienced during the shipping and handling process. Broken tablets discovered by a consumer or retailer can burden a manufacturer with costly product returns and a poor reputation for quality. While a manufacturer can modify chemical compositions to improve powder adhesion, the resulting product may be over-designed and fail to dissolve properly in water. R&D labs need detailed impact performance data to optimize these chemical compositions.

Our Solution
Impact testing was performed on several different detergent tablets using the Dynatup MiniTower fitted with an Impulse data acquisition and analysis system. To simulate rough handling conditions while packaged in bulk, the tablets were placed on a fixture plate and impacted with a flat 11/2-inch diameter striker specially designed for the application.
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disintegration, also became more valuable. Variables such as product shape, size and packaging method can also be investigated for influence on impact performance.

Instrumentation revealed performance characteristics not identified in previous R&D efforts employing more simple go/no-go drop testing. Tablets demonstrated different deflection, energy absorption and load-time profiles that were easily visualized and compared for consistency using Impulse's advanced plotting features. With a more repeatable test process, visual inspection of failure modes, such as cracking and

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Powdered soap tablets with and without packaging are impact tested to simulate rough conditions during transportation and handling.

The Challenge
Today's most advanced razor designs feature disposable blade assemblies that are fastened to reusable handles. The mechanical docking features on the handle and blade consist of thin and flexible plastic geometries. When a razor assembly is dropped onto a hard surface in the bathroom or shower, this latching mechanism can release or become permanently damaged, leaving a consumer unable to finish shaving. Consumer products that routinely fail in the course of normal use quickly gain a poor reputation. Razor manufacturers seeking to maintain brand image need instrumented R&D equipment to quantify impact forces that cause undesired disassembly or cracking.

Our Solution
Engineers seeking to develop a baseline of impact performance data, such as maximum load, energy, and deflection, can utilize Instron Dynatup's Mini-Tower configured with the Impulse data acquisition and analysis system.

To simulate the impact event resulting from an accidental drop, Instron fabricated a unique fixture designed to position the razor assembly perpendicular to a custom 10 mm flat-faced striker. This setup enabled impact testing of (a) connected blade/handle assemblies to determine separation force and (b) exposed docking features on the handle to quantify forces required to deform and break the plastic.

Razors

Impact testing simulates the effects of dropping a razor in the bathroom or shower.

Instron has also worked with consumer product manufacturers and third party suppliers to engineer completely custom instrumented impact test equipment. For more information, see the Electronics section on pages 14 and 15.

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Consumer Goods

Powdered Soap Tablets

Electronics

Electronic products in a variety of industries continue to become smaller in size with a growing number of features and capabilities. As more and more components are assembled to smaller printed circuit boards, the interconnections between these components must also become miniaturized. In many applications, these same electronic devices must be designed to withstand mechanical shocks encountered during their use. Sudden impacts can dislodge electronic components assembled with tiny solder joints, crack entire circuit boards or damage the external casing of a product.

Solder Joints
The Challenge
Solder joints have become more vulnerable to impact failure with the miniaturization of portable electronic devices. The impact shock resulting from an accidental drop can cause a solder joint on the circuit board to crack or split, resulting in intermittent or permanent product failure. This can have serious consequences in military or aerospace applications that demand high reliability and performance. There are many variables that affect the impact strength of solder connections, including alloy composition, solder pad surface finish and thermal cycling history. For R&D teams, the JEDEC drop impact test standard can require high material and labor investment and only provides data for qualitative rankings. Solder manufacturers and circuit board designers can further benefit from impact test equipment designed to collect quantitative performance data directly from individual solder connections.

Our Solution
Instron 's new MicroImpact test system is designed to deliver consistent and repeatable low-energy impacts to individual microelectronics structures such as solder joints. Featuring a highly sensitive load cell and displacement transducer, this unique test instrument is integrated with a Dynatup Impulse data acquisition and analysis system to characterize impact performance in full detail.
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For R&D purposes, the MicroImpact system provides a wealth of data not available from a standard JEDEC test setup, enabling manufacturers to reproduce drop impact shocks on individual solder joints and analyze their effects. Experiments can be performed to determine impact shear failure modes and quantify measures of joint quality such as peak load, time to peak load and total energy absorbed. With simple specimen preparation and user-friendly operating procedures, the MicroImpact system is also well suited for process quality control applications.

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Instron's MicroImpact test system.

The Challenge
Personal electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and notebook computers have become indispensable tools for business professionals. Designed to be lightweight and stylish, these products must also be rugged and durable to withstand numerous impacts throughout their lifetime. Accidental drops resulting in cracked plastic are the most common impact experienced by portable electronic products. In such an event, electronic components and interconnections on the circuit board inside the device can also become damaged, causing intermittent function or complete failure of the device. Engineers need test equipment that can simulate and quantify the impact forces required to damage casing materials or circuitry and wiring inside their products.

Our Solution
Instron Dynatup has delivered several impact test solutions for personal electronic devices, with designs ranging from modified drop weight instruments to completely customized configurations.

"Drop-the-Product" Impact System Working in partnership with a customer and third party instrumentation supplier, Instron Dynatup developed a unique instrument focused exclusively on simulating accidental drops of finished products. Well-suited for testing portable electronics and other consumer goods, the system was equipped with pneumatic grips to release an object at various drop heights and angles above an instrumented platen. This test instrument enables product designers to methodically experiment with different impact energies and measure the resulting impact forces on the outer casing of a product.

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Unique "Drop-the-Product" impact test system.

Drop Table Impact System For testing the electrical performance of circuit boards during a mechanical shock per JEDEC test specifications, Instron Dynatup modified a 9250HV drop tower to include a unique crosshead fixture and inverted tup. Circuit boards mounted to the fixture were dropped from different heights onto a flatfaced striker to deliver impact shocks. The test system also included an integrated accelerometer, pneumatic rebound brake and Impulse instrumentation kit to measure maximum load and acceleration.
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Mobile phones are especially vulnerable to accidental drops that can damage the outer casing or internal circuitry.

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Dynatup 9250 instrument modified for JEDEC drop impact testing.

Horizontal Impact System As an alternative configuration, Instron Dynatup engineered an impact test instrument to strike small electronic products and circuit boards along a horizontal axis. Designed for low-energy impacts, the system featured custom fixturing, adjustable impact speeds and full Impulse instrumentation and software to collect, analyze and report impact performance data.
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Custom-designed horizontal impact tester.

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Electronics

Personal Electronic Devices

Industrial

Many industrial products are purposefully designed to receive or deliver impacts in their application - tools used in manufacturing and maintenance operations, for example, or heavy-duty mining and construction equipment. These components need to be extremely hard and tough, so manufacturers utilize high strength steels, coatings and even diamond-based materials to ensure a long impact service life. Failure to perform can compromise the economics or safety of a project, therefore impact performance is often a critical measure of product quality.

Hand Tools
The Challenge
Simple hand tools made from steel can be found in private residences, manufacturing facilities, construction sites and service garages. Many of these tools, such as chisels and pin punches, are purposefully designed to be struck with a hammer. Others, including screwdrivers and wrenches, have a different purpose but are often used as impact tools as well. Improperly designed tools can bend or crack during a hammer strike. The resulting debris or hammer deflection can injure the user or cause damage to surrounding objects. While the effects of impact failure are rarely severe, a manufacturer can earn a reputation for poor quality that is difficult to overcome. To avoid this problem, tool designers need to verify the mechanical design of steel shafts and integrated plastic handles with an appropriate impact test system.

Our Solution
Instron configured a 9250HV test instrument with a 50,000 lb (222 kN) tup to capture the high-impact loads expected during tool strikes. A standard 2-inch spherical insert (to simulate the head of a hammer) was used to strike the various products, which were all mounted in a custom fixture to ensure direct axial loading. A rebound brake prevented second strikes on the specimen.

The 9250HV also enabled repeat testing at defined energy levels to quantify the service life of the tools.

The Impulse instrumentation package provided a wealth of performance data previously not available using a more basic free-fall test technique. Analysis software was used to develop a thorough database of impact energies required to initiate damage in several hand tool designs.
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Custom vertical fixture used to position hand tools for impact testing.

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Band Saw Blades

The Challenge
Automatic band saws used to cut metals, plastics and wood are a basic piece of equipment found in machine shops. Band saw blades are made from various steels and geometric designs to optimize performance for different specimen materials and types of cut. The most important feature of a band saw blade is the cutting edge. Band saws operate at high speeds and the cutting teeth must be designed for long fatigue life, good thermal conductivity and minimal vibration and noise. Each tooth must also be highly resistant to impact shock. A band saw tooth may strike a specimen at high velocity many thousands of times during its service life. Impact failure of a saw tooth can have economic or safety-related consequences. A damaged saw blade causes machine downtime and reduces shop efficiency. More seriously, a saw tooth that chips off at high velocity can cause injury to a bystander.

Our Solution
The Instron Dynatup MiniTower is well suited for testing the impact performance of saw blade teeth. During operation, the tip of each tooth faces the greatest impact load as it strikes the specimen. To accurately represent this event, an Izod-style tup insert made from hardened tool steel is positioned in line with the cutting edge of a saw blade specimen. The specimen itself is held vertically in a custom fixture.
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With this configuration, engineers can perform tests to understand the impact force and energy limits of the saw blade teeth. Understanding how each tooth fails can help lead to improvements in the geometry of the cutting edge or specification of better steels, coating materials or manufacturing processes.
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Close-up of Izod striker used to impact saw blade tooth for determining impact force and energy performance limits.

Mining Drill Bits

The Challenge
For oil, natural gas and other mining applications, ultra-hard drill materials are necessary to penetrate underground rock formations. Drill bits made from industrial diamond are manufactured under extreme temperature and pressure conditions to obtain maximum hardness and durability. Both are key measures of performance in this high-speed, abrasive environment. Drilling companies strive to maximize rate of penetration into the rock. Prematurely worn or damaged drill bits can slow down the progress of the operation. To reduce costly maintenance and improve drilling efficiency, component manufacturers invest heavily in materials and equipment R&D labs. Instrumented impact testers are among the tools found in these labs for comparing drill bit material compositions, cutting structures and manufacturing processes.

Our Solution
A special application-specific fixture and striker system was mounted to a 9250HV drop tower to perform impact testing on various mining drill bit designs. Industry-standard fixturing supplied by the customer positioned the drill bit beneath the striker at an angle to simulate field-use conditions. A custom tup insert was also provided. This component was mounted to a high-capacity tup and designed to hold single-use strikers that represented a hard rock formation being drilled. Several drill material development labs previously using crude drop weight techniques to analyze impact performance benefited from the repeatability and instrumentation provided by the 9250HV. A new level of information regarding impact force and energy became available to provide further visibility and new insight into drill bit failure modes.

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Ultra-hard drill bits used in mining applications are specially designed for impact performance.

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Industrial
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Medical

Medical products is a fast-growing, global industry driven by innovative manufacturers. Surgeons, doctors, nurses and consumers all place great trust in the quality, safety and reliability of the medical devices they use. Some products, such as surgical and dental tools, are purposefully designed to receive impacts. Others, like medical durables and disposables, can face accidental impacts during field use. In many applications, the consequences of a medical product failure can be severe for both the patient and manufacturer. A patient can suffer serious injury or death, damaging the manufacturer's reputation in the marketplace and exposing the company to product liability lawsuits.

BIOPULS

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For more information about Instron in the medical community, ask about our "Solutions for Biomedical Testing" brochure or visit us on the web at: www.instron.com/wa/applications/biomedical

Surgical Tools
The Challenge
The successful completion of certain surgical procedures, such as vertebrae fusions and hip replacements, requires the use of highperformance implant delivery tools. During the course of the procedure, these tools are subjected to repeated impacts from the surgeon's hammer and must perform flawlessly. A tool failure can lead to complications during surgery such as unwanted debris in the wound field or excessive time under anesthesia. It is critical for manufacturers of implant delivery tools to earn the confidence and respect of surgeons by providing a product that has been thoroughly tested under enduse conditions. Without sophisticated test equipment, manufacturers may not be able to accurately simulate forces, geometries and other impact characteristics that their tools will experience in the operating room.

Our Solution
To identify design features of the implant tool most likely to fail, Instron developed a test setup on a 9250HV instrumented drop tower to simulate surgical impact conditions. Custom fixturing was assembled to grip the impact tool and a striker head was selected to replicate the face of a surgical hammer. A rebound brake was also installed to prevent secondary impacts on the tool. Once the relevant geometries were recreated, a simple modification to the Impulse software enabled the drop tower to perform automatic cyclic testing - effectively reproducing the motions of a surgeon repeatedly striking the tool. By methodically and consistently simulating the energy level, frequency, quantity and geometry of impacts, Instron was able to improve quality control testing of the implant tool. A previously undetected failure mode was identified during analysis of the data.
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Test setup for surgical tools includes custom fixture for vertical positioning, rebound brakes for single impact, and software module for cyclic testing.

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Consumer Durables
Eyeglass Lenses The Challenge
A significant percentage of the world's population wears some form of corrective or protective eyewear such as reading glasses, sunglasses or sports goggles. The primary purpose of eyewear is to improve vision, but the lenses must also withstand impact forces resulting from unintentional drops and hits. To the eyewear consumer, the potential consequences of impact failure - a shattering lens and serious injury to the eye - are immediate and severe. Government regulations set minimum impact performance standards for eyewear products. Lens manufacturers need a flexible test instrument to research materials and demonstrate product compliance to government specifications.
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Eyeglass lens tested on instrumented Mini-Tower to measure deflection, load and energy absorption performance.

BIOPULS

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Our Solution
Instron created a support fixture to simulate human facial geometry and test the impact performance of eyeglass lenses. A thin neoprene gasket bonded to a 11/4-inch diameter steel ring was fastened to the base of an instrumented Dynatup Mini-Tower . Sample lenses of different mineral and organic compositions were placed unrestrained on the fixture and impacted by a 5/8-inch hemispherical striker at various weights and drop heights. The resulting array of data provided detailed information about the relative deflection, maximum load and energy absorption of the different materials information that was used to steer product development and to demonstrate product compliance.
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Consumer Disposables
Insulin Delivery Systems The Challenge
Diabetes sufferers today can choose from a wide variety of insulin-delivery products to manage their blood glucose levels. Manufacturers have developed innovative injector pens with disposable, pre-filled glass insulin cartridges designed for convenient self-treatment. Consumers expect these injector pen and cartridge systems to be robust against accidental impacts. The disposable cartridges must also be packaged effectively to resist impact strikes commonly experienced during shipment. A glass cartridge broken during shipping or in use can cause injury and prevent the patient from receiving necessary medication. For the manufacturer, the patient's resulting loss of confidence in the product can be the most harmful effect of an impact failure. The product must be thoroughly tested for impact performance prior to launch into the consumer marketplace.

Our Solution
For this low-energy application, Instron worked with a customer to configure an instrumented Dynatup Mini-Tower to simulate various types of impact on the disposable glass insulin cartridge. V-groove and cantilever support fixtures were created to represent different injector pen designs in the customer's product family. Utilizing the Mini-Tower as an R&D tool, Instron's customer tested the cartridges in many different support configurations and energy levels. The resulting data provided an impact resistance profile that revealed sensitive design features and confirmed a specific field failure mode, helping the manufacturer to make decisions about product design and process quality control.

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Glass insulin cartridge positioned in a V-groove fixture for impact testing.

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Medical

Sporting Goods

Designers of sporting goods used by recreational and professional athletes compete to provide superior fit, durability and performance. Products are often made from lightweight materials including composites, plastics, rubbers and foams that are selected to perform under specific impact conditions. Racquet designs are optimized for striking game balls, for example, while helmets must protect athletes from impact injuries. For many of these products, the amount of energy returned or energy absorbed during an impact is an important performance feature.

Tennis Racquets
The Challenge
The design of tennis racquets has evolved dramatically over the past 20 years. Fiberreinforced, composite materials have enabled manufacturers to develop racquets that are lighter and better performing than their wooden predecessors. Tennis racquets must withstand frequent, high-speed impacts with tennis balls and fixed objects such as playing surfaces, net supports and fences or walls. Under such real-world impact conditions, composite materials can have complex and hidden failure modes with resulting effects on the performance of the racquet. Instrumented impact testing is a valuable tool to help identify and improve product durability.

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Energy absorbed or returned during an impact can be a critical performance factor for athletic equipment.

Our Solution
A unique fixture was created to firmly grip and support a series of tennis racquet designs. The fixture/racquet assembly was mounted beneath a high-velocity drop tower fitted with single impact rebound brakes to reproduce common tennis impacts. Using a custom flat-faced striker, Instron s equipment delivered application-representative impacts to the top surface and front face of the racquet's composite frame.

After incipient damage points were identified and recorded, further testing was performed on both strung and unstrung racquets to measure the effects of string tension on impact performance. Finally, the rebound response of strings was compared between damaged frames and undamaged frames to characterize the reduction in overall product performance.

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A composite tennis racquet frame can fracture when striking a hard court surface.

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Golf Balls
The Challenge
Many golf ball manufacturers offer a range of products for amateur and professional players with different levels of swing speed and club control. In golf ball design, multiple layers of material are molded around a core together to achieve specific performance characteristics such as spin, distance and lift. The outer cover is often made from a soft, dimpled urethane material that must be durable and resist cuts during launch and landing impacts. Poor material selection and design can lead to permanent deformation of the ball during a swing impact, resulting in poor flight performance. Understanding the impact energy return characteristics of a coating material or treatment can be an important measure of performance for product R&D teams.

Our Solution
Instrumented impact testing is an effective solution for collecting, analyzing and comparing rebound characteristics of prototype golf ball designs. To simulate application conditions, Instron can design a custom flat-faced tup insert and matching fixture for installation on a 9250HV drop tower. The Impulse instrumentation system helps engineers quantify the amount of energy absorbed and returned under different impact conditions, as well as deflection experienced by the coating material. A Dynatup pneumatic rebound brake is also recommended to prevent second strikes and improve the quality of data.
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Golf ball coating materials must be designed for impact performance.

Athletic Shoes
The Challenge
The soles and inserts of athletic shoes are made from engineered layers of foam and rubber that must endure a high cycle life of running, pivoting and jumping. Each material in the structure is designed for specific performance characteristics. Some compress to provide shock absorbency and cushion impacts, while others maintain stiffness to provide stability and control. In the case of running shoes, heel impact performance is especially important to the athlete. Improper shoe design combined with repetitive impacts can lead to fatigue, pain and long-term injury to the athlete. Material deflection during a heel impact, total force and energy absorbed can all be important measures of performance to help designers optimize layer configuration.
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Material deflection during heel impact, total force and energy absorbed can all be important measures of performance in athletic shoe design.

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Dynatup Impulse software displaying typical impact force and energy rebound characteristics of materials used in golf balls and athletic shoes.

Our Solution
Dynatup drop towers can be used to perform simulated heel strike tests on individual layers of material or complete assemblies inside a shoe structure. Instron configured a Mini-Tower with Impulse
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instrumentation and a 3,500 lb (15.6 kN) tup to characterize different layer configurations. A custom rounded striker was included to simulate the impact geometry delivered by the heel of a runner's foot. Instron also provided a steel fixture for supporting the test specimens under study. Together, this impact test package enabled engineers to quantify and compare important energy absorption, force and deflection vs. time data for numerous prototype designs.

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Sporting Goods

Product Portfolio

For over 25 years, Instron Dynatup has provided high-quality impact test solutions to academic institutions, R&D labs and manufacturing plants around the world. Instron Dynatup serves a broad range of industries with a family of instrumented testers and data acquisition systems that are repeatable, reliable, safe and easy to operate.

Mini-Tower and Model 8200

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Model 9200 Series

Instron's most versatile and popular impact test system is the Dynatup 9200 series. Designed to deliver a wide range of impact energies, this instrument is ideal for testing plastics, composites, metals and finished components in most any industry. Fully-instrumented with the Impulse data acquisition and control system, the 9250 can be configured for high-velocity testing and comes standard with complete software control of test setup and operation. Economical and fully automated systems are also part of the Model 9200 family.

Model 8100 Series

The Model 8100 series instruments are designed to perform high-energy impact testing of large metal and composite specimens and structures. Three versions are available to meet a broad range of drop weights and impact energies. The Model 8100 can be configured for drop weight tear, threepoint bend or full component testing. Impulse instrumentation and customized fixtures are also available to serve unique automotive, aerospace and metals industry applications.

For applications that require low energy and velocity, Instron offers two economical drop weight test instruments. The compact and portable Mini-Tower is used for penetration testing of film, packaging materials and light plastics. Thin or brittle plastics, composites and metals can be tested on the larger Model 8200. Both instruments have a manual crosshead release mechanism, interchangeable drop weights and large work area for testing both specimens and components. The Dynatup Impulse data acquisition system can also be integrated to collect and analyze impact performance data.
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Mini-Tower Energy Range 0.7-18.0 J (0.5-13.2 ft-lbs) Max Velocity 3.0 m/s (9.7 ft/sec) Impulse System Optional Dimensions 910 x 381 x 254 mm (36 x 15 x 10 in) Model 8200 Energy Range 0.5-132.7 J (0.4-97.9 ft-lbs) Max Velocity 4.3 m/s (14 ft/sec) Impulse System Optional Dimensions 1714 x 406 x 457 mm (67.5 x 16 x 18 in)

Model 9200 Series Energy Range 2.6-1603 J (1.9-1182 ft-lbs) Max Velocity 20 m/s (65.6 ft/sec) Impulse System Standard Dimensions 2558 x 584 x 508 mm* (112.5 x 23 x 20 in) *Standard base

Model 8100 Series Energy Range 2.4-27.8 kJ (37.2-20,536 ft-lbs) Max Velocity 7.0 m/s (23 ft/sec) Impulse System Optional Dimensions 4880 x 1320 x 1120 mm (192 x 52 x 44 in) (Model 8150)

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POE2000e Pendulum
The Dynatup POE2000e provides accurate and repeatable Izod and Charpy impact testing of plastics, composites and ceramics. Designed in accordance with ASTM and ISO specifications, this pendulum instrument features a rigid arm design with fully adjustable drop angle and optional weights to obtain a complete range of potential energies. The POE2000e is fitted standard with Impulse instrumentation and software to provide detailed calculations and plots of load, deflection, energy and velocity.
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MicroImpact Test System

For R&D or quality control applications in the microelectronics industry, Instron s new MicroImpact test system characterizes the shear impact performance of circuit board interconnections. Fully-instrumented with the Impulse data acquisition and analysis system, this innovative tool provides a level of detail that is not available using customary drop impact test methods. Manufacturers of electronics can experiment with different solder compositions, pad finishes and other design features to optimize interconnection strength for specific applications.

Impulse Data Acquisition System

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The Dynatup Impulse system consists of instrumentation, electronics and software for acquiring, analyzing and storing high-quality impact performance data. During an impact event, signals collected from an instrumented tup and velocity detector pass through a high performance signal conditioning unit and are processed into valuable data plots and results tables. The powerful software interface also features a customizable library of standard test methods, profiles and calculations. Impulse can be fitted to any Dynatup impact test instrument and on test frames from most other manufacturers.

POE2000e Pendulum Energy Range 2.7-50 J (2.0-37 ft-lbs) Max Velocity 3.5 m/s (11.5 ft/sec) Impulse System Standard Dimensions 584 x 406 x 305 mm (23 x 16 x 12 in)

VHS Series

Hydropuls Crash Simulation System

Instrons VHS Series servohydraulic impact systems feature closed-loop, high strain rate testing with speeds up to 25 m/s.
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IST Hydropuls catapult testing systems are used for high speed vehicle crash simulation testing and passenger protection research.
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As the world leader in impact testing solutions, Instron offers additional products to complement the Dynatup family. For more information, visit us on the web at www.instron.com.

Product Portfolio

Test Specification Index

Mini-Tower
AITM 1.0010 - Compression/Impact ASTM D 256 - Izod (Plastics) ASTM D 950 - Adhesive Bonds ASTM D 1709 - Plastic Film Penetration ASTM D 1822 - Tensile Impact ASTM D 2444 - Thermoplastic Pipe ASTM D 3029/ASTM D 5420 - Gardner ASTM D 3763 - Puncture (Plastics) ASTM D 4508 - Chip Impact Strength ASTM D 4812 - Unnotched Cantilever ASTM D 6110 - Charpy (Plastics) ASTM E 23 - Charpy/Izod (Metals) ASTM E 208 - Nil Ductility ASTM E 436 - Drop Weight Tear ASTM E 604 - Dynamic Tear BOEING 7260 - Compression/Impact DIN 53 373 - Plastic Film Penetration ISO 179 - Charpy (Plastics) ISO 180 - Izod (Plastics) ISO R 148 - Charpy (Steel) ISO 6603-2 - Puncture (Plastics) ISO 7765-2 - Plastics Film and Sheeting JIS K 7111 - Charpy (Plastics) NASA ST-1 - Compression/Impact X(film) X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X(film) X X X X X X X X X X X
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Model 8200
X X

9200 Series
X X

8100 Series

POE2000e
X X

For information on Instron products and services call your local worldwide sales, service and technical support offices: Corporate Headquarters
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Instron is a registered trademark of Instron Corporation. Other names, logos, icons and marks identifying Instron products and services referenced herein are trademarks of Instron Corporation and may not be used without the prior written permission of Instron. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. Copyright 2006 Instron Corporation. All rights reserved. All of the specifications shown in this brochure are subject to change without notice.

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