Plastic & Foam Rebound Testing Equipment

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Plastic & Foam Rebound Testing Equipment
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Foams and soft polymers are judged by how much energy they return, and rebound resilience measures that directly, which is why it sits apart from fracture testing. NextGen supplies rebound testers for flexible foam, polyurethane, elastomers and rubber, working to ASTM D3574 and DIN EN ISO 8307 for ball rebound and ISO 4662 for pendulum tests.

The ball rebound tester drops a magnetic ball onto the specimen from a fixed height and calculates resilience in its console, while the pendulum tester measures elastic recovery and dynamic behavior, with optional specimen heating. Instruments are installed and calibrated on site, your team is trained on conditioning and reading results, and support continues for the life of the instrument.

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What Rebound Resilience Testing Measures

In a rebound test an impactor strikes the specimen and the instrument records how much of the energy comes back. A purely elastic material stores the energy and releases it when the force is removed, and a purely plastic material absorbs it completely. The rebound percentage places a foam or elastomer between those two limits, which is why resilience is treated separately from fracture testing.

Laboratories use it to differentiate material qualities, to judge how a foam or compound behaves under shock, and to follow changes in a material after aging and fatigue. It is also a quick quality check during production and on the finished product.

Standards for Rebound Testing

Two families of methods apply. Ball rebound on flexible foam and polyurethane follows DIN EN ISO 8307 and ASTM D3574, in which a steel ball falls freely onto the specimen from a set height. Pendulum rebound on elastomers follows DIN 53512, ASTM D1054 and ISO 4662. The methods are not interchangeable, so a result is reported with the standard and the conditions behind it.

What Affects Rebound Results

The specimen comes first. The ball method uses a 100 x 100 mm block that is 50 mm high, and the pendulum method uses a round specimen 29 to 53 mm in diameter, so size and thickness must follow the standard. Temperature matters for elastomers because heat changes elasticity, which is why the pendulum tester takes an optional heating module for contact surface temperatures from 10 to 100°C.

The impact itself is fixed by the method: a 16 mm ball dropped from 500 mm for the ball test, and a 200 mm pendulum striking at 2 m/s for the pendulum test.

Rebound Testing Equipment from NextGen

The Ball Rebound Tester drops a magnetic ball and calculates the median rebound in its console, with RS232 and USB output and no calibration requirements in normal use. A 500 mm down-pipe is standard, and an 18.1 inch (460 mm) pipe is an accessory. The Pendulum Rebound Resilience Tester is available in manual and fully automatic versions with a digital display terminal, a resolution of 0.1% and a heating module for specimens up to 100°C.

The pendulum tester is built around a single geared motor and a frictionless encoder, a wear-free mechanism intended for continuous quality-assurance work. A 200 N clamping device holds the specimen against the anvil, and HardTest software collects and processes results over the RS232 interface. On the ball tester, a sensor near the holder confirms that the ball has returned to its home position when a test ends.

For Laboratories

One partner to equip your complete plastics laboratory

Resilience testing is one station of a plastics laboratory. NextGen equips the rest of it too, from tensile and flexural testing to impact, melt flow, HDT and Vicat systems, and stays responsible for it after delivery.

  • Equipment, fixtures and software
  • Installation, training, calibration
  • Lifetime technical support

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FAQs

The ball rebound tester suits foam, polyurethane and similar materials: a 16 mm magnetic ball falls from 500 mm onto the specimen, and the console reports the rebound as a percentage to DIN EN ISO 8307 and ASTM D3574. The pendulum tester suits elastomers and soft elastic materials to DIN 53512, ASTM D1054 and ISO 4662.

It shows how much of the impact energy a material returns instead of absorbing. A purely elastic material stores the energy and releases it, and a purely plastic one absorbs it completely, so the result places a foam or elastomer between the two. The pendulum test also identifies material changes after aging and fatigue, which makes it useful for quality assurance during production.

The ball rebound tester takes a 100 x 100 mm specimen that is 50 mm high. The pendulum tester takes round specimens 29 to 53 mm in diameter and about 12 mm thick, and the stand adjusts for specimen thickness from 0 to 60 mm. Prepare the specimen to the dimensions your standard sets before the test.

Yes, on the pendulum rebound tester. An optional heating module sets the contact surface of the specimen between 10 and 100°C, which simulates the effect of heat on the elasticity of different formulations. A second specimen can be preconditioned at the same time, and a 200 N clamping device holds the specimen against the anvil.

Both testers have an electronic console that calculates the result, and the ball tester shows the median value as a percentage. Results leave the instruments over RS232, and the ball tester also has a USB port. The ball tester needs no calibration in normal use and ships with a works certificate for 500 mm ball rebound. A DAkkS calibration certificate and software for data transfer are available for the pendulum tester.