ASTM D1004 Tear Resistance (Graves Tear) of Plastic Film and Sheeting

Angle Tear Using Labthink XLW(PC) Tensile Tester

Business Fields: Food/Medical/Heathcare/Packaging

Materials: Films/Plastics/Sheeting

Test Types: Tear/Peel/Tensile/Seal Strength

Specimen Tear: Trouser, angle or crescent

Standard: ASTM D1004

ASTM D 1004-13 covers the determination of tear strength or tear resistance of flexible plastic film and sheeting. The site of tear is initiated by a high stress concentration caused by the 90° angle in the specimen. This test method aims to measure force to initiate tear for plastic-Aluminum films that do no exhibit brittle failure or do not elongate greater than 101.6 mm (4 in.).

For this test, we used a XLW(PC) Tensile Tester with a 50N load cell. We found the 1 x 1 inch rubber-coated faces on the 10N capacity pneumatic side-action grips and a gripping pressure of 0.7Mpa to work well for this application. In addition, a webcam was set up to track specimen failure. The images from the webcam were recorded into Labthink embedded software. This enables the user to view the test data along with a video of the actual live test.

We recommend reading and reviewing ASTM D1004 in order to fully understand the test setup, procedures, and results requirements.