Kapuskasing Style Drop Impact Tester
The GM Kapuskasing Drop type Cold Impact Tester is used by General Motors and it's suppliers for evaluating a material's overall resistance to topcoat cracking due to impact on finished leather at -30 degrees C. It is a bench top size, manually operated, single sample impact test fixture for use in a Cold Chamber maintained at -30 degrees C.. The combination of the impact head size and the weight used in this test duplicates the cracking observed at low temperature in a pattern of concentric circles exhibited on some finished (topcoated) leather.
Specimens are cut and mountedinto the (3) specimen holders provided. The Indenter Rod stop is pre-set on the fixture to assure 100mm drop for developing proper impact force of 0.245 +/- J. The test fixture and all 3 prepared specimens are placed into a Cold Chamber and the temperature reduced to -30 degrees C & maintained for 4 hours min. Then the operator reaches through a port-hole in the cold chamber and lifts the indenter rod to allow the installation of the first prepared specimen into the test fixture. Next the operator raises the indenter & weight assembly to the pre-set stop (100mm) and releases allowing the indenter rod assembly to drop onto the specimen. The indenter rod is then lifted and specimen is removed and set aside. The 2nd specimen is installed and the procedure is repeated, and again on the 3rd specimen.