ASTM A974 – Standard Specification for Welded Wire Fabric Gabions and Gabion Mattresses

(Metallic-Coated or Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Coated)

ASTM A974 covers gabions and gabion mattresses produced from metallic-coated welded wire fabric, and metallic-coated wire for spiral binders, lacing wire,

and stiffeners used to assemble the product.

The metallic-coated fabric may be polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coated after fabrication.

The spiral binders, lacing wire, and stiffeners may be PVC coated after metallic coating. Polyvinyl chloride hereinafter will be designated as PVC.

Welded wire fabric for gabions and gabion mattresses is produced in five styles, based on the kind of coating,

The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as the standard.

This specification references notes and footnotes which provide explanatory material.

These notes and footnotes (excluding those in tables and figures) shall not be considered as requirements of this specification

Weld Shear Strength of Fabric

This test method covers the procedure for determining the strength of welded intersections of welded wire fabric.

Significance and Use

The weld shear strength is a measure of the ability of welds in wire fabric to resist the forces imposed on the wires tending to pull them apart.

Apparatus

Use a testing fixture which is intended to stress the vertical wire close to its centerline, and to prevent rotation of the horizontal wire.

This fixture can be used in most tensile testing machines and should be hung in a ball and socket arrangement at the center of the machine.

This or a similarly effective fixture designed on the same principle, is acceptable

Test Specimens

Test specimens shall be obtained by cutting, from the finished fabric, a full-width section including at least two transverse wires

*** Before conducting  ASTM A974 , it is important to read the entire specification. Standards can be obtained from appropriate standard authorities.