Ruggedness Testing of the Dynamic Shear Rheometer and the Bending Beam RheometerTest Procedures

摘要

Ruggedness testing of the bending beam rheometer (BBR) and the dynamic shearrheometer (DSR) was performed. Four laboratories participated in this effort. Three materials were used for BBR ruggedness testing and four materials were used for DSR ruggedness testing. Measurement of the creep stiffness and m-value at 60 s with the BBR was found to be fairly repeatable. Of the factors studied, the mold used for casting the beams had a significant effect. Different beam thickenss by the two molding techniques was found to be a factor that caused this variation. Other unknown factor(s) also seemed to contribute to this effect. The test temperature also had a significant effect and should be controlled to plus or minus 1 degree C. Ruggedness testing is a screening test for 'detecting and reducing sources of variation in a test method early in its development and prior to an inter-laboratory study' for precision and bias. It is the goal of this screening process to reduce the variability of test results to a minimum through the detection and control of pertinent variables.