New Materials & Agriculture

Weathering Impact in the Field

Agricultural and construction-related films—including greenhouse covers, mulch films, and certain protective sheets—must survive mechanical stresses such as handling, installation, and occasional hail or falling debris. While UV aging and weathering are often discussed, impact resistance is equally important to avoid sudden tearing and costly field failures.

Falling dart impact tests according to ASTM D1709 give R&D teams a quantifiable parameter to track improvements in toughness when adjusting resin type, thickness, or additive packages. This is especially valuable for thinner films designed to save material while maintaining acceptable durability.

Biodegradable & Recycled Film Development

Sustainability trends are pushing converters towards recycled (PCR) and biodegradable materials. However, these materials often exhibit different brittleness and crack-propagation behaviors compared with virgin PE or PP.

The Falling Dart Impact Tester’s staircase method (up-and-down technique) allows researchers to:

• Determine the impact failure mass (M50)—the dart mass at which 50% of specimens fail—using a statistically robust process instead of single-point pass/fail tests.
• Compare toughness across multiple formulations and thicknesses with clear numerical values.
• Identify the trade-off between downgauging, recycled content, and field durability early in the development process.

Typical R&D applications include:

• Optimizing greenhouse film formulations for thinner yet tougher covers.
• Evaluating mulch films with biodegradable resins for balanced lifetime and impact resistance.
• Screening PCR-based industrial films to ensure they still meet minimum impact benchmarks.