Impact – IEC 62133-2

What Is Impact — IEC 62133-2?

Impact test is a test in which damage, breakage or safety behavior is evaluated by applying a sudden impact to the sample from a defined mass and height. The order and acceptance criteria vary depending on the application area: for battery cells it is an abuse test, for plastics and glass it is a mechanical strength test.

Purpose of Impact — IEC 62133-2

The purpose is to determine the product's resistance to impacts that may occur during use or an accident; In battery application, it is to evaluate the risk of internal short circuit and thermal events as a result of impact.

Which Products Is Impact — IEC 62133-2 Applied To?

Battery cells and modules (abuse tested)
Plastic sheet and injection parts
Automotive exterior trim and glass components
Furniture surface and structural elements
Packaging and protective enclosures

In Which Sectors Is Impact — IEC 62133-2 Used?

BatteryElectric VehicleAutomotiveEnergyElectronics

Standards Related to Impact — IEC 62133-2

IEC 62133-2Safety in portable lithium cells and batteries test

Impact — IEC 62133-2 Conditions

Battery application: Mass and fall height defined in the standard; A rod is placed on the cell and a blow is applied.
Polymer application: Pendulum (Charpy/Izod) or falling weight arrangement
Specimen temperature: Room temperature or lower temperature according to specification
Safety: Battery tests are carried out in an explosion-proof cabinet

Equipment for Impact — IEC 62133-2

Falling weight impact device
Pendulum impact test machine
Explosion-proof test cell (battery)
Temperature and voltage recording
High-speed camera

Sample Requirements for Impact — IEC 62133-2

In the battery experiment, the sample is fully charged and disposable.
Polymer samples must be sized and conditioned in accordance with the standard
The number of samples is determined according to the applied standard
Impact location must be defined in the specification

Duration of Impact — IEC 62133-2

The moment of impact lasts seconds. In battery experiments, a working day is planned along with the observation period.

Impact — IEC 62133-2 Procedure

1The sample is identified and the initial state is recorded.
2The mechanism to be applied (pendulum, falling weight or battery pulse) is established.
3Mass and drop height are set according to the standard.
4The blow is applied; force, temperature or absorbed energy are recorded.
5In the battery experiment, temperature and voltage are monitored throughout the observation period.
6The damage type and result are evaluated.

Impact — IEC 62133-2 Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance criteria vary depending on the application area. The typical criterion in battery tests is the absence of fire and explosion; In polymer and glass tests, the minimum impact strength or fracture type is defined in the specification.

Evaluation of Results

In battery application, temperature increase, voltage drop and gas release are evaluated. Material application is based on the energy absorbed and the type of fracture.

Impact — IEC 62133-2 Report

Standard and layout applied
Mass, height or pendulum capacity
Sample description and impact location
Measured energy or temperature/voltage records
Damage type and observations

Accreditation

EUROLAB holds internationally recognised accreditation obtained from accreditation bodies party to the IAF and ILAC multilateral recognition arrangements, under ISO/IEC 17025 for laboratory testing, ISO/IEC 17020 for inspection and surveillance, and ISO/IEC 17021-1 and ISO/IEC 17065 for system and product certification. This chain ensures the reports and certificates issued are accepted worldwide.

Whether this test can be offered within accredited scope depends on your product and the standard applied; since accreditation is method-based, the scope is confirmed in writing at the quotation stage.

Scope and authorisations

Related Regulations

UN 38.3 (battery transport)
UNECE R100
Material product standards

Batarya Testleri — What Does This Testing Field Cover?

The section below describes the field that the Impact test belongs to; the conditions and acceptance criteria of this particular test are given in the sections above. The scope specific to your product is confirmed in writing at the quotation stage.

Battery testing answers three separate questions, each with its own body of standards: can the battery be transported, is it safe in use, does it deliver the declared performance? These three questions are often confused with one another, and the confusion has commercial consequences — a market cannot be entered with a transport report, and a shipment cannot be made with a product safety report.

On the transport side, UN 38.3 is a mandatory gate; a battery without that evidence cannot be shipped. On the safety side the application determines what applies: IEC 62133-2 for portable products, IEC 62619 and IEC 63056 for industrial and energy storage applications, UNECE R100, UL 2580 and ISO 6469 for electric vehicles. On the performance side, capacity, internal resistance, cycle life, self-discharge, charge acceptance and temperature-dependent behaviour are measured.

The distinction of LEVEL is essential in this family and is the subject that causes the most argument in the supply chain. Cell, module and pack are assessed separately; a certificate obtained for a cell does not demonstrate the conformity of the pack. Alongside the cells, the behaviour of the pack is determined by the battery management system, the cooling design, the mechanical structure, the interconnection arrangement and insulation coordination. Putting the cell supplier's report into the pack file is a common but inadequate approach.

Thermal runaway and its propagation are the most critical subject in the field. A lithium cell may enter a self-sustaining chemical reaction when damaged or overheated; at that point removing the heat from outside is usually not possible. Modern standards therefore treat thermal runaway of a single cell as an UNAVOIDABLE fault scenario and change the question: does the event propagate to neighbouring cells, what does it release outside the pack, and how much time is left for the user to escape?

In this field the battery management system is assessed not as an electronic board but as a SAFETY FUNCTION. It is shown that overcharge, overdischarge, overcurrent and overtemperature protections actually operate, that the system falls to the safe side in a fault, and that its software has been verified. In industrial and vehicle applications this assessment is tied to functional safety frameworks.

The regulatory side is becoming rapidly more demanding. Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 goes beyond safety and introduces obligations for carbon footprint declaration, recovered content ratio, durability and capacity declaration, the battery passport, and removability for portable batteries. This takes the scope of testing beyond classical safety tests.

Method groups in this field

Electrical abuse
Overcharge, overdischarge, external short circuit, forced discharge and unbalanced charging. This is where it is seen whether the protection circuits actually work.
Mechanical abuse
Vibration, shock, crush, penetration, free fall and tipping. It is monitored whether internal short circuit conditions arise.
Thermal tests
Temperature cycling, thermal shock, high temperature storage, fire exposure and thermal runaway propagation.
Environmental tests
Humidity, low pressure, salt spray and, where required, immersion; these come to the fore in vehicle and outdoor applications.
Performance measurements
Capacity, energy and power, internal resistance, efficiency, cycle life, calendar life and temperature-dependent behaviour.
BMS verification
Verification of protection thresholds, the cell balancing function, communications and fault response.

Commonly confused in this field

UN 38.3 is not a product safety certificate; it only demonstrates transport conformity.
A cell certificate does not demonstrate pack conformity. The pack is assessed separately with its own architecture.
Two packs built from the same cell give different results; cooling, interconnection and mechanical structure are decisive.
A performance test is not a safety test. A cycle life report does not satisfy safety requirements.
For an electric vehicle battery, a UL 2580 report and UNECE R100 approval are not the same thing; one is a standards assessment, the other a type approval regime.
A vehicle battery moved into a second-life application enters a new usage profile; the earlier assessment does not carry over directly.

Which decisions these results support

Transport conformity and the test summary for shipment
Product safety declaration and market access
Performance, durability and carbon footprint declarations under the Battery Regulation
Assessing the impact of a cell supplier or BMS change
Site acceptance processes for an energy storage system

Related Tests

Frequently Asked Questions About Impact — IEC 62133-2

Which impact test does this page describe?

The document lists impact testing in multiple families: battery abuse, plastics, automotive exterior trim, glass and furniture. That's why the page covers every context; Which layout to apply is determined by your product and specification.