This bearing strength test for plastics is intended to apply in the specification of various thermoplastic or thermosetting products in sheet form where rivets, bolts, or similar fastenings are to be used in joining members or sections. It also is intended to apply wherever sheet materials of the classes indicated are required to sustain edgewise loads that are applied by means of pins or rods of circular cross section which pierce the sheet perpendicular to the surface.

The purpose of the test is to determine the bearing strength of the material and to show the bearing stress versus the deformation of the hole. The allowable deformation of the hole in the material should be such as to produce no looseness of joints.

While it is a known fact that higher strength materials will generally give higher bearing strengths, there is no satisfactory method by which bearing strength may be estimated from tensile or compressive properties of the material.

Before proceeding with this test method, reference should be made to the specification of the material being tested. Any test specimen preparation, conditioning, dimensions or testing parameters or combination thereof covered in the relevant ASTM materials specification shall take precedence over those in this test method. If there are no relevant ASTM material specifications then the default conditions apply.