Under impact or crash conditions adhesives are required either to maintain sufficient strength such that failure does not occur, or to maintain sufficient toughness such that if failure does occur energy is absorbed by the surrounding structure.

Impact tests are carried out using a high speed servo-hydraulic actuator (5 m/s) and associated instrumentation for force measurement and data capture. Tests can be performed on bulk adhesive test pieces or joints including the wedge impact peel specimen (ISO 11343).

A drop-weight impact facility (shown above) has also been developed for adhesive joints and structures, with impact velocities of up to 11.3 m/s. The rig also operates as a falling sled. In this mode, the test piece is attached to the sled. The impact load is then applied to the test piece by the high deceleration of arrest of the sled. Changes in forces and acceleration are recorded. Tests have been conducted on a number of test piece configurations on joints using the same substrate materials and also multi-material joints.