Generation of cushion curves from one shock pulse

Three methods for generating performance information relative to the shock absorbing ability of cushioning materials are discussed. The conventional method, which follows the test standard ASTM D1596, requires enormous amounts of test data and can be quite expensive in material costs, laboratory time and equipment. Two methods based on generating the dynamic stress vs. energy density curve for the material are discussed. This single curve replaces all of the published cushion curves. One method requires only 10‐20 drops and predicts peak G to within ± 5% of the published values. A new method proposed here produces the same stress vs. energy curve from only one drop.