SATRA TM391:2016 ‘Biomechanical Abrasion of Flooring Materials’ enables textile, resilient, laminate, rubber and some hard floorings and stair nosing to be evaluated using a simulated walking action. TM391 uses a standard shoe on an automatic walking machine, the SATRA Pedatron, to test the wear on floorings, particularly PVC and safety flooring.

This test method is intended to determine abrasion and appearance retention of floorings. As well as being applicable to most types of material, it can be used to assess surface finishes and as an ageing process before measuring slip resistance using the pendulum test method (BS 7976-2).

SATRA chief executive, Austin Simmons, said: “SATRA has a long history of developing specialist test methods and standards for industry – often developing new and innovative evaluation techniques through the process. SATRA TM391 is unique to SATRA and has been in use for a number of years. This updated 2016 version reconfirms the methodology, but also introduces a number of editorial changes to make it easier to use and interpret.”