International Standard 638312

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION.MEXAYHAPOAHAR OPrAHkl3AL&lR f-l0 CTAH~APTbl3AL(MWORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE DE NORMALISATION

PCastics - Film and sheeting - Determination

of tear resistance -
Part 2: Elmendorf method
Plastiques - Film et feuie - Determination de Ia rbsistance au dkhirement - Partie 2: t’L&thode Elmendorf

First edition - 1983-09-01

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z-
UDC 678.5/.8-416 : 620.176.245 Ref. No. ISO 6383/2-1983 (E)
8
6,
Descriptors : plastics, tests, tear strength, tear tests, test specimens.

s: Price based on 6 pages

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 Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of
national Standards bodies (ISO member bedies). The work of developing International
Standards is carried out through ISO technical committees. Every member body
interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been authorized has the
right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.

Draft International Standards adopted by the technical committees are circulated to

the member bodies for approval before their acceptance as International Standards by
the ISO Council.

International Standard ISO 6383/2 (formerly ISO/DIS 6824) was developed by

Technical Committee ISO/TC 61, plastics, and was circulated to the member bodies in
February 1980.

lt has been approved by the member bodies of the following countries:

Australia Germany, F. R. Philippines

Austria Hungary Poland
Belgium India Portugal
Brazil I reland Romania
Canada Israel South Africa, Rep. of
China Italy Spain
Czechoslovakia Japan Switzerland
Egypt, Arab Rep. of Korea, Rep. of United Kingdom
Finland Mexico USA
France Netherlands USSR

The member body of the following country expressed disapproval of the document on
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tech nical grounds:

Sweden

0 International Organkation for Standardkation, 1983

Printed in Switzerland

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 INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 6383/2-1983 (EI

Plastics - Film and sheeting - Determination

of tear resistance -
Part 2: Elmendorf method

0 Introduction 2 References

ISO 6383 consists of the following Parts: ISO 291, Plastics - Standard atmospheres for conditioning
and testing.
Part 1 : Trouser tear method.
Part 2: Elmendorf method. ISO 4591, Plastics - Film and sheeting - Determination of
average thickness of a Sample and average thickness and yield
of a roll b y gravimetric techniques fgravimetric thicknessl.
1 Scope and field of application
ISO 4593, Plastics - FtYm and sheeting - Determination of
thickness b y mechanical scanning.
1 .l This part of ISO 6383 specifies a method of determining
the forte required to propagate a tear through a specified
distance and from a specified slit, tut in a test specimen of thin 3 Definition
flexible plastic sheeting or film, under specified conditions of
loading. For the purpose of this part of ISO 6383, the following defini-
tion applies.
The upper limit of thickness that tan be tested depends on the
tearing forte of the material in relation to the capacity of the tear resistance : The forte, in newtons, required to tear a test
testing machine. specimen by the specified method.

Materials that tan be tested according to this method include

flexible poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and polyolefin films, but
4 Principle
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variable elongation and oblique tearing effects on the more ex-

tensible films may Cause poor reproducibility of test results.
A test specimen having a specified precut slit is subjected to a
This method may not be suitable for testing more rigid
tearing forte generated by the energy stored in a pendulum of
materials such as rigid PVC, nylon and Polyester films.
specified dimensions. The energy expended in tearing the
specimen is used to calculate the tear resistance of the
1.2 The tear resistance test specified by this method is ap- specimen.
plied to specimens tut from semi-finished and finished pro-
ducts. The test is suitable for the control of production and
manufactured products as well as for acceptance or rejection 5 Apparatus
testing under specifications for semi-finished and finished pro-
ducts, provided that it has been demonstrated that the data for The test machine shall be of the Elmendorf type (an example of
a particular material are acceptably reproducible. a suitable test machine is shown diagrammatically in figure 11,
comprising the following .
1.3 There is no direct linear relationship between tearing
forte and specimen thickness. Data from this method are ex- 5.1 Stationary jaw, accurately aligned with a movable jaw
pressed as tearing forte in newtons, with specimen thickness carried on a pendulum, preferably formed by a sector of a
also reported. Only data obtained at the same thickness should circle, free to Swing on ball bearings or other substantially fric-
be compared because sets of data from specimens of dissimilar tionless bearings. Esch jaw shall have a clamping surface of not
thickness are generally not comparable. less than 25 mm in the horizontal direction [dimension b (sec

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 ISO 6383/2-1983 (El

figure 111 and not less than 15 mm in the vertical direction the same sandwich may tear obliquely in opposite directions, which
(dimension c). The thickness of the fixed Portion of each jaw may lead to falsely high results. When this testing behaviour is en-
shall be between 9 and 13 mm (dimension a). When the pen- countered, Single specimens must be tested even though scale
dulum is in the initial Position, ready for the test, the jaws shall readings may be in the range below 20. For thin film, it is recom-
mended that Single specimens and a lower capacity tester be used
be separated by a distance of 2,8 + 0,3 mm and so aligned
rather than several specimens and a higher capacity machine.
that the test specimen clamped in them lies in a plane perpen-
dicular to the plane of oscillation of the pendulum, with the
edges of the jaws gripping the test specimen in a horizontal 6.4 When testing film in the machine (longitudinal) direction,
line, a perpendicular to which through the axis of Suspension of test specimens shall be oriented so that their width is tut in the
the pendulum (i.e. the distance between the axis and the top longitudinal direction and, similarly, specimens for transverse
edges of the clamping jaws) is 104 + 2 mm long and makes an tear strength determinations shall be tut with their width in the
angle of 27,5O + 30’ with the plane of the test specimen. transverse direction.

5.2 Means for holding the pendulum in a raised Position

and for releasing it without imparting shock. 7 Conditioning

Unless otherwise specified by the specification for the material

5.3 Means for determining the energy expended by the being tested, test specimens shall be preconditioned and tested
pendulum in tearing a specimen. This usually consists of a cir- in atmosphere 23/50 as specified in ISO 291, except that when
cumferential scale on the pendulum which indicates against a material is known not to be sensitive to humidity, atmosphere
pointer. The machine shall be accurately calibrated (allowing 23 may be used.
for friction and windage losses) to enable the scale reading to
be used to give the forte required to tear the Standard test
specimen in newtons, with an accuracy to within 1 % . This
8 Procedure
calibration shall be periodically checked. Annexes A and B give
instructions for the adjustment and calibration of the
apparatus. 8.1 Determine the thickness of the material being tested by
the method specified in ISO 4591 and ISO 4593.
5.4 lncremental masses, to add to the pen dulum to in-
NOTE - ISO 4593 is not suitable for use with embossed film and
crease the tearing forte capacity of the machine.
sheeting .

5.5 Suitable measuring equipment, to measure the

8.2 Check that the Elmendorf apparatus is level. Lift and ar-
thickness of the material being tested by the methods specified
rest the pendulum, set the indicating mechanism to the starting
in ISO 4591 and ISO 4593.
Position and gently release the pendulum. Check that the
pointer indicates zero and adjust if necessary according to the
manufacturer’s instructions.
6 Test specimens

6.1 The test specimen shall have the shape and dimensions 8.3 Carry out a few tests by the procedure specified in 8.4 to
shown in figures 2 or 3. The preferred or referee specimen shall check whether augmenting weights are required or a number of
be the constant-radius specimen (figure 2) because of better test specimens need to be tested simultaneously (sec the note
reproducibility (see 8.5). to 6.3) so that on any test the energy of the pendulum ab-
sorbed in tearing lies between 20 and 80 % of the total energy
of the pendulum. Check the zero setting and adjust according
6.2 The test specimen may be tut from the Sample using to the manufacturer’s instructions each time that augmenting
templates and a sharp knife. Special attention shall be given to
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weights are fitted or removed.

the cutting of the 20 -t 0,5 mm slit, which shall be free of nicks
and ragged edges.
8.4 Lift and arrest the pendulum of the machine and set the
NOTE - Some testing machines have a permanent and integral knife indicating mechanism to its starting Point. Carefully Position
by which the slit tan be tut into the test specimen after mounting in the test specimen, or group of test specimens, in the jaws of
the jaws of the machine. In such cases, the sharpness of this knife and the grips so that the slit is centrally disposed between the fixed
its ability to tut the slit to the correct dimensions should be frequently and movable jaws of the machine and tighten the clamps firmly
checked.
(see the note). Carefully release the pendulum and read from
the scale the forte expended in tearing the specimen or group
6.3 Unless otherwise specified by the specification for the of test specimens.
material being tested, five test specimens [or five groups of test
specimens (sec the note)] shall be tested in each principal direc- NOTE - When the machine is fitted with an integral slitting knife,
tion of the film Sample, tut from positions evenly spaced across clamp the specimen as in 8.4 and then operate the knife to produce the
the width of the Sample. slit (sec the note to 6.2).

NOTE - In the case of films of low tear strength, it is permissible to

8.5 When constant-radius test specimens (sec figure 2) are
test a group of two or more test specimens simultaneously in Order to
meet the requirements of 8.3. Cut the individual test pieces for each used, reject any tests in which the line or tear deviates outside
group adjacent to each other, but space the groups approximately the constant radius section and test additional specimens to
evenly across the width of the Sample. However, certain specimens in replace those rejected.

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 ISO 6383-2:1983 Plastics - Film and sheeting - Determination of
tear resistance - Part 2: Elmendorf method
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