When used in either commercial or residential construction, plastic building products are subject to regulatory requirements specified by various municipal and international building codes. Many of these requirements involve determination of the article’s mechanical properties using test methods developed by ASTM International Committee D20 on Plastics. One such test, the Vertical Height Impact Test (VHIT or Gardner Impact Test) is used to measure the impact resistance of plastic products used in the building and construction industry. Plastic pipe, window profiles and siding all have specifications referencing this test. However the test is subject to significant variation with similar imparted impact energies sometimes producing different types of failure mechanisms. In this talk, we investigate and quantify the sources of test variation, including the impact of an article’s formulation, and by using X-ray, IR and powder rheology propose a novel mechanism explaining the failure differences observed during testing.

Variations in test results and failure mechanisms observed in vertical height impact testing

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