Overview
ISO 17178:2013 - "Adhesives for bonding parquet to subfloor - Test methods and minimum requirements" defines laboratory test methods and minimum performance requirements for adhesives used to bond parquet and similar wood floorings to subfloors. The standard specifies sampling, conditioning, specimen preparation, test procedures and how to calculate and report shear strength, tensile strength and shear elongation. It does not cover the selection or on-site installation of parquet flooring.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Scope & purpose: Standardized laboratory methods for evaluating parquet adhesives (shear/tensile performance) and minimum strength requirements.
- Definitions: Classification of adhesives as hard, hard elastic and elastic based on shear strength and shear elongation thresholds.
- Sampling & conditioning: Follow ISO 15605 for sampling and ISO 554 standard atmosphere (23 ± 2 °C, 50 ± 5 % RH). Typical conditioning regimes include 3-day and 28-day (including heat ageing at 40 ± 2 °C) procedures.
- Shear strength tests (clause 4.2):
- Specimens: oak mosaic parquet fingers (160 × 23 × 8 mm) per EN 13488.
- Notched trowel geometry specified; overlap bonded area 600 ± 20 mm².
- Tensile testing at (20 ± 2) mm/min until failure; shear strength T = Fmax / A (N/mm²).
- Tensile strength tests (clause 4.3):
- Parquet pieces (≈50 × 50 × 10 mm) bonded to a standard concrete slab (EN 1323).
- Pull-head plates used; loading rate (250 ± 50) N/s; tensile strength calculated as Fmax / 2 500 mm².
- Elastic adhesive shear tests (clause 4.4): Special template to create ~1 mm adhesive gap; shear elongation γ = D / d reported alongside shear strength.
- Test report elements: Reference to ISO 17178, adhesive designation/batch, specimen counts, storage conditions, notched trowel details, failure modes (per ISO 10365), and arithmetic means with handling of outliers.
Applications and who uses it
ISO 17178 is used by:
- Adhesive manufacturers for product development, QC and specification of parquet adhesives.
- Independent test laboratories performing performance certification and compliance testing.
- Flooring product developers and specifiers who need validated adhesive performance data.
- Certification bodies that assess conformity to performance claims.
This standard supports reliable, repeatable testing of parquet flooring adhesives, enabling consistent product specifications and comparability across manufacturers and markets. Note: on-site installation practices and substrate preparation are outside this document’s scope.
Related standards
Normative references include ISO 554 (conditioning), ISO 10365 (failure patterns), ISO 15605 (sampling), EN 923, EN 1067, EN 1323 and EN 13488 (parquet/flooring materials and test substrates).