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As the manufacturing of products and components spreads around the world, one of the challenges
facing business today is to compare mechanical test results which are carried out in different
locations. Nowhere is this problem more evident than in the tensile testing of plastics. There are two
main procedures which are in general use today; ISO 527, and ASTM D638. In this article we discuss
some of the major differences between these two standards and explain why there can be significant
differences in the test results.
Characteristics of the moulding material
Although there are three main factors which influence +
the test results, in this article we will focus on the Manufacturing process of the test specimen
problems associated with standardising the test +
Test conditions
conditions.
=
Test Results
The ASTM Standard does not define this pre-stress. The test can
be started immediately after placing the specimen in the grips.
Since the specimen does not have a defined status of stress at
this point in time, a correction must be used in order to determine
the extension zero point 0 (Toe Compensation - see Fig. 2.)
The corrected strain zero point is determined by applying a
tangent to the point of the maximum slope. If the material
displays a linear slope in the stress-strain diagram, the straight
line should be applied to this area. The point where this crosses
the strain axis corresponds to the corrected zero point. If the
material does not show a linear area, the straight line is applied,
as a tangent, to the point of maximum slope. Fig. 2 ASTM Strain zero point
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Materials Testing
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Where:
Et is the Youngs Modulus of Elasticity expressed in MegaPascals (MPA).
1 is the stress in MegaPascals, measured at a strain value of 1 = 0.0005.
2 is the stress in MegaPascals, measured at a strain value of 2 = 0.0025.
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Materials Testing
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Modulus of elasticity:
For materials which display a linear portion, the modulus of elasticity is the steepest gradient of the
linear region of the test curve. This is the preferred method.
Secant modulus:
If no linear region can be determined, a secant modulus can be determined between the extension
zero point (0), and a freely selected point on the stress-strain curve. It is not allowed to declare the
tangent slope, or toe compensation line, used for determining the zero point, as the secant modulus.
Summary
For materials which have no linear region then the variation between tests carried out to ISO or ASTM
Standards can be significant.
Testing speeds
While slower test speeds are defined in the ISO Standard for determination of the tensile modulus, the
ASTM allows the same speeds to be used throughout the test. The only limitation is given by the
maximum data acquisition rate of the measurement system being used. See later reference to
required measurement frequency of the measurement electronics.
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Materials Testing
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Measurement of Strain
ASTM D 638 states that strain results measured beyond yield have little value and are only suitable for
qualitative assessments. In ISO 527-1 however, there are no directly measured extensions beyond
the yield point. Instead, the term nominal strain has been introduced.
Nominal strain is a value which allows the assessment of the extension behaviour of plastics beyond
the yield point. There is no constant relationship between nominal strain and direct strain
measurement, therefore, the values are not comparable as shown in the curves in Fig. 6. Both curves
were from the same test specimen.
Unfortunately, nominal strain is often wrongly interpreted as switching from direct extension
measurement (with extensometer), to crosshead travel measurement. This misunderstanding leads to
variations and as a result the test results are not comparable. In order to determine the nominal strain
and direct strain measurement correctly, a testing machine must be equipped with two independent
strain measurement channels. Only in this manner can the nominal strain be correctly determined with
extension starting from the zero point.
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Materials Testing
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According to ISO, the individual strain results must be assigned to the direct extension measurement
channel () up to the yield point, and to the nominal strain (t) channel beyond the yield point. From
the curves in fig. 6 it is clear that there can be large deviations between laboratories who misinterpret
these statements in the Standard.
Fig. 6 Stress-strain curve with direct extension measurement Stress Strain curve with Nominal Strain.
This document is a partial excerpt from technical documentation produced by the plastics industry experts in the Zwick Roell Group. For
more information on the points in this paper and additional facts appertaining to the differences between ASTM and ISO please contact us
info@zwick.com.
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