A specimen about 100 mm wide is clamped with 25 mm jaw faces in its middle and pulled to break, and the peak force is reported in newtons or pounds. Because fibers outside the jaws also take load, grab results run higher than strip tensile and suit loosely structured fabrics. North American nonwoven and geotextile specs rely on it heavily.
Grab tensile in CD is 85 newtons against an 80 minimum, so it ships, but it's tight.
Also heard as
- grab strength
- grab test
- grab tensile strength
Do not mix it up with
- Strip tensile: Strip tensile clamps the full width of a narrow strip, so no outside fibers help and values come out lower.
Related terms
Strip tensile
Tensile test in which the full width of a narrow strip is clamped and pulled to break.
MD
Machine direction: the direction a nonwoven travels through the line, along the length of the roll.
CD
Cross direction: the direction across the width of a nonwoven roll, at right angles to machine travel.
Basis weight
Mass of a nonwoven per unit area, almost always given in grams per square meter.