ASTM D5034 Breaking Strength and Elongation of Textile Fabrics Grab Test

ASTM D5034

Written by Charlie Pryor

ASTM D5034 is a standard used to test the breaking strength and elongation of textiles fabrics. ASTM D5034 mainly applies to most woven textile fabrics such as weather-resistant barriers, but can be applicable to fabrics produced by other techniques. It is important to review the full standard in order to fully understand the test setup, procedure, and results requirements.

The ASTM D5034 test method specifies a procedure to determine the maximum force and the elongation at maximum force of textile fabrics using a grab method. A grab test is a tensile test in which only the center part of the specimen (not the full width) is gripped in the jaw faces. Two sets of specimens are prepared, one in the warp (machine) direction and one in the filling (cross) direction.

Materials Testing System
ASTM D5034 test setup

ASTM D5034 Test Setup

1. Instron 68SC-5

2. Bluehill Universal Dashboard (2490-696)

3. 2580 Series Load Cell (2580-5kN)

4. 2712 Series Pneumatic Grips (2712-045)

 

 

GripsWhile manual side action grips can work for ASTM D5034, many labs prefer to use pneumatic side action grips with rubber coated jaw faces due to their ease of use, productivity, and better repeatability. Adjustable grip pressure also allows users to fine-tune the gripping pressure to avoid jaw breaks or slippage.
2712-045
5 kN Model | 2712-045
Tips and Tricks
  • For ASTM D5034 testing it is important to have an increased test data rate to ensure the capture of a high number of data points. The data rate must be fast enough to catch the peaks generated when individual fibers within the fabric fail. Rapid data capture rate with Instron's 6800 series allows data peaks and valleys to be captured accurately at up to 5 kHz. 
  • Fabric specimens are particularly prone to slippage during testing. Instron's pneumatic side action grips with rubber faces are well-suited to gripping nearly all types of fabric specimens for this test, minimizing slippage while maintaining high throughput.
  • For ASTM D5034, crosshead displacement is often used to report elongation. Whenever crosshead displacement data is used, compliance correction should also be used to remove the system's compliance from the data. Please review the compliance correction whitepaper for more details. 
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