EN 12242 Peel Strength Touch and Close Fasteners (Hook and Loop)

EN 12242 is a test method used to determine the peel strength of a touch and close (also known as “hook and loop”) fastener. A touch and close fastener is made up of two different types of materials: the male material is constructed with monofilament warp ends and finished to form-locking elements of either “hook” or “mushroom” shape. The female material is constructed with multifilament yarns in “loops”. When the two types of material are pressed together, the male and female elements engage to form a secure closure which can be separated by a peeling action from either end.

EN 12242 is widely used in the textile industry to evaluate different hook and loop fasteners. These fasteners have a wide range of uses, from apparel and footwear to consumer products to more industrial usage. In all cases, a complete understanding of their properties are important to ensure they perform as expected. The primary results of interest are minimum, maximum, and average peel strength.

System capacity will depend on the strength of the fasteners. However, most tests to EN 12242 will fall in the 1 kN and 5 kN capacity range, making this application perfect for a single column frame such as Instron's 34SC or 68SC. Optimal gripping solutions include pneumatic side action and advanced side action grips, both of which feature quick-change jaw faces that can be easily changed to accommodate different materials as needed. Rubber-coated jaw faces are well suited to testing hook and loop fasteners.

For peel tests, it is critical to use a high data acquisition rate to capture all peaks and troughs to ensure all test events are fully represented in the results. Too low of a bandwidth may “dull” the results and lead to artificially low peel strength values. Instron’s 6800 series frames enable a data capture rate of up to 2.5kHz. With the Bluehill Universal Advanced Performance option, data acquisition rate can be increased to 5 kHz.