A modified peel test procedure for assessing the peel resistance of sealants

 
The 180° peel test is commonly used for assessing the adhesion of a sealant to a substrate. This test involves a sealant layer bonded to a rigid substrate and a strip of flexible material such as metallic mesh, foil or cloth, embedded into the bulk sealant material, used to apply the load to the sealant layer at an angle of 180°. This test was known to give a lot of scatter in the results and big differences between different laboratories. The existing peel test for sealants was studied and modified in order to avoid subjective aspects inherent in the current test [AITM 2-0013]. The modified test will be described and results given.