Composite Shear Tests
Rail shear test according to ASTM D7078 / D4255
Various test methods are established for determining the shear strength. These differ in the type of load application (as a compressive load via the specimen edge or as a frictional load via the clamping jaw systems) or in the geometry of the specimens (unnotched, notched, miniaturised). In addition, the widely used tensile test can be converted into a shear test through fibre orientation in the +/-45° direction and statements about the shear strength can be determined from the bending test. All established methods have in common that they can only be used to obtain reliable results for low shear deformations (< 5 %) and thus only for low shear loads.
However, the reliable characterisation of high-performance fibre composites is becoming increasingly important. We have specialised in this field and, in addition to the established test methods, we offer you the shear test according to DIN EN ISO 20337 (formerly DIN SPEC 4885), an innovative test method that we developed together with the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing. With this test method, significantly higher shear loads and thus higher strengths can be tested than before.
