Influence of fall height on high impact polystyrene deformation and characteristics of drop weight test

This study deals with high impact polystyrene (HIPS) which was subjected the drop-weight test. HIPS is a polymer produced by the reaction between butadiene synthetic elastomer and styrene (5–14 %) which contains the crystal polymer in certain amounts and is commonly used in mechanical engineering applications where machine parts are exposed to impact loading. The injection moulded HIPS samples were subjected the penetration test at different fall heights and the results were subsequently evaluated and discussed. It was found out that all fall heights are suitable for HIPS penetration, but the optimal one is 50 J because of the smallest variation range. Higher heights are not needed because of increasing power consumption of the test device. From the results, it is clear, that HIPS is not so highly impact resistant material as for example HDPE, because of that is this material suitable for applications where is not often exposed to too big impacts at high velocities.