Design and set-up of a bi-pendulum impact testing machine

In this work the design and set-up of a bi-pendulum testing rig able to perform low-velocity impact measurements on small and medium-size components is reported. Experimental tests were conducted both to check the theoretically calculated value of the equivalent impacting mass and to quantify the overall energy losses during the idle movement of the mass. In order to provide useful information on the material behaviour during a crash test, the impact testing machine has been instrumented with different sensors: a piezoelectric accelerometer placed on the impact mass to measure the horizontal acceleration, an optical sensor to measure the initial impact velocity, a piezo film load cell, developed by the Authors, placed on the sample holder block, to measure the impact force directly on the specimen.