Purpose

This procedure determines the weight, height and energy where a sample fails when it is impacted with a free-falling weight using the Bruceton Staircase Method.

Description

Samples are prepared as for ASTM D3029-F and impact tested using the drop weight impact tester. If the sample did not fail at a given height/ weight, either the height or weight is increased incrementally until failure occurs. Once failure has occurred, the height/weight is decreased by the same increment and the process is repeated until all samples are utilized. Typically, an odd number of samples are used for the Bruceton Staircase technique to obtain several data points around the breakage point.