This practice defines a procedure that ensures reasonably consistent preparation of specimens for product testing and evaluation.

This practice can be used in the laboratories of producers, users, and general interest parties for research and development or quality control work. It is particularly useful for interlaboratory comparisons on products, for repetitive evaluations or comparisons of products or product quality, and in specifying a uniform preparation practice for specimens for acceptance testing.

If pitch impregnated samples are prepared by wet cutting or drilling, care should be taken in drying them. If the samples are heated to facilitate drying, the temperature to which they are heated should not be so high that it causes drainage of pitch from the samples.

Porosities of metal-containing brick must be measured using kerosene or mineral spirits because using water will result in an artificially low result.