Flexural testing is an important part of the characterization process of any material because the test results provide relevant information for how the material will behave under real-world conditions. Especially for composite materials, which are often used in aerospace, automotive and energy applications, it is critical to understand how much flex the material has and maitain its strength.
ISO 14125 describes the procedure for determining the flexural properties of fiber-reinforced composites in either a three- or four-point flexure test. Instron's three-point flexure fixture has an optional four-point loading head, making it easy to switch between the two different test types. We recommend either a 3300 or 5500 universal testing instrument for this application, as it can easily be configured with any of the other common composite test applications, such as tensile, shear and compression.