ASTM D2659

Significance

Material reduction and lightweighting approaches have forever remained a goal of the packaging industry, as two of the most important considerations for measuring plastic package performance are the capacity to withstand compression and its impact on the product. Chapter 10, "Column compressibility testing," of ASTM D2659 offers a standardized, reproducible procedure for acquiring information on column crush, which can be used in research and development, quality control during production, material comparison, design optimization, and specification acceptance or rejection. Critically, the standard acknowledges that containers made from low-ductility materials may fail by brittle fracture, whereas containers from ductile materials typically exhibit a yield load without a defined failure point—an important distinction for engineering decisions.

Scope

ASTM D2659 will measure important column crush parameters, which include crushing yield load, crushing yield load deflection, crushing load at failure, and (apparent) crushing stiffness all at constant rates of compressive deflection in the SI units, which act as its standard measurement system. While designed for blown thermoplastic containers, the method can be applied to containers of similar geometry formed by other manufacturing processes. The standard is intended for use in research, quality assurance, and acceptance testing contexts but is not a substitute for impact, creep, or fatigue testing in applications involving significantly different load-time conditions.