: One impact test idea I had was to have a pendulum swing through a sample.
: Measure the height of the pendulum before the swing and how high it goes
: after crashing through the sample the difference between the two heights
: relates to the energy absorbed by the sample. In order for this to work,
: the pendulum must break the sample completely.

Nick,

You are right about needing to completely break the sample in a pendulum impact test if you want real quantitative data. This drags specimen support and size issues back up to the front end of the problem. In the Izod and Charpy pendulum impact tests, samples are single cantilever and 3-point bending configurations, respectively. For both of theses tests, the pendulum swings past the two broken halves of the sample. If we are interested in panel impact and want to measure energy, then we need to instrument the pendulum. One way to do this is to measure the pendulum velocity before, during, and just after impact, but before the lever arm hits the sample. This would not be too difficult to do, but more complicated than many home shops are ready to deal with.

Sam