PSI - Issue 79

Agnieszka Chowaniec-Michalak et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 79 (2026) 198–205

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2.4. Impact resistance testing methodology The impact resistance tests were carried out in accordance with the EN ISO 6272-1:2011 standard “Paints and varnishes - Determination of resistance to deformation by falling weight - Part 1: Large-area indenter.” This standard was selected because there is no dedicated procedure for evaluating the impact resistance of flooring coatings, and the ISO 6272-1 method allows for obtaining reliable and comparable results for resin-based systems. The tests were performed using an apparatus equipped with a vertical guide and a steel impact head with a diameter of 20 ± 0.3 mm (see Fig. 2). Steel weights of 1000 g and 2000 g ± 1 g were dropped from increasing heights, raised stepwise by 25 mm, until cracking of the coating occurred.

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Fig. 2. Falling-weight test apparatus: (a) view of the weight (1 + 1 kg), (b) close-up of specimen placed in the apparatus, (c) general view of the test stand.

Each mixture was tested on a series of independent metal plates, with four impacts applied at specified distances on each plate, in accordance with the standard’s requirements for minimum spacing between impact points. When visible cracks were observed, the test was repeated five times at each of three heights:  the height at which damage occurred,  25 mm below,  and 25 mm above. The impacts were applied in a random order to ensure that all tests at the same height were not performed consecutively or on a single plate. For each series of samples, the minimum drop height at which the first coating failure occurred was recorded. This value was adopted as the measure of impact resistance for the tested coating systems.