Significance and Test Method
Rebound resilience is used to assess the elastic behaviour of elastomers when subjected to an impact load. The test shows how much kinetic energy an elastomer sample returns after an impact test. The rebound resilience depends on the material type, the material formulation and the test temperature.
Significance for Application Technology
On the application side, the rebound resilience of a rubber material is used to assess its suitability for vibration-related tasks. Within a polymer family, however, this characteristic value also provides important information about the formulation characteristics and thus allows to limit the selection of the formulation for an application. The test has lost importance, however, because much more information about the dynamic behaviour of a material can be obtained by means of a DMA test.
The rebound resilience test
The rebound resilience test is described in DIN 53512 and ISO 4662.
A guided pendulum hammer, the so-called push pendulum, is lifted, falls at a defined speed after release and hits the vertically fixed test specimen. The rebound resilience of the rubber sample is calculated via the deflection, i.e. the measured rebound height of the hammer. The higher the value determined, the more elastic the material.
