ABSTRACT
Most industrial tests of polymer systems are carried to failure with some degree of simulation between test and end use. A manufacturer of plastic cups is more interested in a fast breaking test that simulates dropping a cup than in a slow, steady deformation. The compromise that is reached is between a specific test (dropping a cup, wearing out a tire on the road, parachuting greater weights until the cords on the chute break) and a more general one (impact strength, sandpaper abrasion, highspeed tensile strength).
