BS EN 319 Perpendicular Tensile Strength of Particleboards and Fiberboards

BS EN 319 identifies the perpendicular tensile strength properties of chipboard, fiberboard, and particle board, which are engineered materials made by gluing wood chips or wood particles together with an adhesive under high pressure. The perpendicular tensile strength test serves to measure the strength of the internal bonding within the material.  This testing is especially important considering many of these materials are formed through the adhesion of multiple layers of material.

In principle, the test involves bonding specimen blocks to the top and bottom surfaces of the test specimen with a suitable adhesive. The upper loading fixture should be self-aligning, and the specimen blocks should be 50 mm square and made from steel or aluminum alloy.  The standard dictates that both grips should be self-aligned, necessitating the use of a flexible tension coupling.  The loading fixtures, which grip the specimen blocks, are attached to the test machine and tension is applied perpendicular to specimen surface until the specimen fails. The only calculation required is for the tensile strength. 

The challenges of testing to this standard are:

•  Performing a tensile test according to the specifications of the standard
•  Recording the required amount of data points to capture the force deflection curve accurately 
•  Ensuring only axial loading is introduced to the specimen

Instron's Solution:

• Performing the tests according to the specifications of the standard - Instron Custom Solutions Group engineers have designed a tension fixture in order to adhere to the stringent requirements of the tensile blocks as stated in EN 1607
• Recording the required amount of data points - Bluehill^® Universal allows the user to adjust the data sampling rate of the software, up to 2.5 kHz in order to capture the most data points
• Ensuring axial loading - The tensile blocks are attached to the frame using flexible couplings to ensure that only axial loading is being applied to the thermal insulation specimen

It is important to review BS EN 319 in order to fully understand the test setup, procedure, and results requirements