ASTM D3846 In-Plane Shear Strength of Reinforced Plastics

ASTM D3846 describes the method for determining the in-plane shear strength of reinforced plastic composite materials. These specimens are typically thermosetting plastics with reinforcements that widely vary in type and thickness ranging from 2.54 mm to 6.60 mm.

The test method is similar to that of ASTM D695-15 Test Method for Compressive Properties of Rigid Plastics, except that in the ASTM D3846 method, failure of the specimen occurs in shear between two centrally located notches that are machined halfway through the thickness of the specimen and spaced a fixed distance apart on opposing faces. For this test, we recommend a Electronic Series universal testing system.
The challenges of testing to this standard:
Ensuring parallelism of compression platens
Reporting calculations in compliance with the standard