BS 5131-5.1:1990

This standard BS 5131-5.1:1990 Methods of test for footwear and footwear materials. Testing of complete footwear is classified in these ICS categories:

• 61.060 Footwear

This Section of BS 5131 describes a procedure for measuring the strength of adhesion at the toe and at the heel of a stuck-on or moulded-on sole with an extended edge. The main use of the method is as a non-destructive in-plant check that sole adhesion is of the required strength but it can also be applied as a laboratory test to determine destructively the strength of adhesion of the sole at the toe and the heel.

The method is based on an apparatus specially designed to measure the strength of adhesion of the sole. This apparatus uses the deflection of a cantilever beam as a direct measure of force, but in practice there is not an exact linear relationship between the two. Nevertheless, errors due to this cause can be minimized by making the testers so that percentage errors are at a minimum in the middle of the force range. Since the force is applied manually, it is difficult to attain a uniform and controlled rate of application of increasing force. For these reasons the test results are to be interpreted with caution, but the test is useful if applied both in routine quality control of footwear of normal construction and materials and also in specifying the performance of footwear whose materials and method of construction are very similar. It is not suitable for use in comparing sole adhesion strengths where either the styles or the materials or the methods of construction are different.

When using the method as a non-destructive test to confirm that the strength of adhesion in a finished shoe is adequate, the force applied is limited to the required pass/fail value so that footwear with satisfactory sole adhesion remains intact and usable.