Impact Testers and Charpy Impact Testers

Testing machines for determination of the impact strength of plastics and metals

...the right impact test equipment for standard-compliant testing!

An impact testing machine helps determine the resistance of a material or component to a rapid load under varying environmental conditions. Because many materials used for a number of different applications on a daily basis are subjected to fluctuating temperatures, and since the fracture or failure behavior also depends on temperature, these materials must often be tested in their entire operating temperature range. These tests are used to indicate at what temperature and to what extent the material becomes brittle.

Pendulum impact tester Drop weight tester Videos FAQ Customer cases

ZwickRoell impact strength testing machines: the right pendulum impact testers and drop weight testers for your applications

Impact testing has become firmly established in materials and components testing. The properties determined are part of basic material characterization. ZwickRoell has been delivering quality impact test equipment for years. Our product line includes pendulum impact testers for metals and pendulum impact testers for plastics, drop weight testers with an energy range of only a few joules to 100,000 joules, as well as hydraulic high-speed testing machines.

The energy range of our machines spans from 5.5 joules (pendulum impact testers) to 100,000 joules (drop weight testers).
Our impact testing machines are available in conventional (non-instrumented) and instrumented versions.
Our specimen temperature conditioning box and magazine ensure precise specimen preparation and standard-compliant testing.
The use of automated solutions with our impact testers further increases reliability and cost-effective test processes.

With just one click you, can learn more about our different options for impact testing:

Pendulum impact testers up to 750 joules

To the product

Drop weight testers up to 20,000 joules

Rebound resilience testers

Impact tests on plastics

Impact tests on plastics – non-instrumented

There are ISO product, method, and instrument standards for impact tests with pendulum impact testers.

Product and method standards describe how specimens are taken from a variety of materials and tested. Or they describe a test method for a product or material group.

Instrument standards describe how test instruments are designed. They specify the technical data and their tolerances and define how testing instruments should be verified.

While our customers rely on product standards, as a manufacturer of instruments, both product standards (for the test sequence) and instrument standards (for the technical design of the test instrument) are binding. Therefore both groups of standards are listed below.

As a rule, ASTM standards do not differentiate between product, method, or instrument standards.

Impact tests on plastics – instrumented

The following characteristics are determined in instrumented Charpy tests to ISO 179-2:

Maximum force
Deflection at maximum force
Energy up to maximum force
Deflection at break
Energy at break

Impact tests on elastomers and foam

The objective of tests on elastomers and foams is the straightforward and fast measurement of material elasticity.

One material that is up to 100% elastic stores supplied energy and releases it at the moment the force is no longer applied. In contrast, material that is up to 100% plastic absorbs supplied energy completely.

These characteristics are used to measure rebound resilience:

A disk-shaped specimen is clamped to a massive block. A pendulum hits the specimen and supplies energy through the hit. The elastic part of the specimen saves the energy (the pendulum rests for a moment) and then returns the energy to the pendulum. The pendulum is accelerated in the opposite direction and swings back.

Once it reaches its resting position after returning, the backward swing angle is measured. Using the angle, the elastic energy that the specimen returned to the pendulum is calculated.

Impact tests on metals

For impact tests on metals, ASTM E23 permits a speed that can also be maintained with the HIT50P. This requires special accessories.

Type of test	Product/ method standard	Potential energy [J]	Speed [m/s]	Upper measurement limit in % of the rated initial potential energy	Instrument standard
Charpy	ISO 148-1	n.s.	5 ... 5.5	80 %	ISO 148-2 JIS B 7722
	EN 2003-1	300 (others are permitted)	5 ... 5.5	n.s.	EN 2003-3 Ident. BS 131-4 1972
	ASTM E23	n.s.	3 ... 6.	80%¹	None
	ASTM E436	>2700	>4.88	n.s.	None
	Old DIN 50115 standard	≤ 5,5 >5.5 ... 50 >50 ... 750	2.8 ... 3.1 3.6 ... 4 5 ... 5.5	80 %	ISO 148-2 JIS B 7722
Izod	EN 2003-2	n.s.	3.5 ± 0.5	n.s.	EN 2003-3 Ident. BS 131-4 1972
Izod	ASTM E23	n.s.	3 ... 6	80 %	None

n.s. = not specified

Measured values can be valid in some cases even if limit is exceeded.

Type of test	Product/ method standard	F range [kN]	Speed [m/s]	Measurement uncertainty Force [% Fact]	Transmission frequency min. [kHz]	Instrument standard	Lower measurement limit	Upper measurement limit in % of the rated initial potential energy	Potential energy [J]
Charpy	ISO 14556	1 (for Fa) to 40 (for Fm)	5 ... 5.5	1 % In the F range 10 ... 100 % Recommended for tups only	100 Increase time: 3.5 µs)	EN 10045-2 ISO 148-2 JIS B 7722	n.s.	80 %	n.s.

n.s. = not specified