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This document specifies two procedures for the determination of the melt mass-flow rate (MFR) and the melt volume-flow rate (MVR) of thermoplastic materials under specified conditions of temperature and load. Procedure A is a mass-measurement method. Procedure B is a displacement-measurement method. Normally, the test conditions for measurement of melt flow rate are specified in the material standard with a reference to this document. The test conditions normally used for thermoplastics are listed in Annex A.

The MVR is particularly useful when comparing materials of different filler content and when comparing filled with unfilled thermoplastics. The MFR can be determined from MVR measurements, or vice versa, provided the melt density at the test temperature is known.

This document is also possibly applicable to thermoplastics for which the rheological behaviour is affected during the measurement by phenomena such as hydrolysis (chain scission), condensation and cross-linking, but only if the effect is limited in extent and only if the repeatability and reproducibility are within an acceptable range. For materials which show significantly affected rheological behaviour during testing, this document is not appropriate. In such cases, ISO 1133-2 applies.

NOTE      The rates of shear in these methods are much smaller than those used under normal conditions of processing, and therefore it is possible that data obtained by these methods for various thermoplastics will not always correlate with their behaviour during processing. Both methods are used primarily in quality control.