Method of determining testing parameters of a melt flow rate testing apparatus

A method of determining testing parameters of a melt flow rate testing apparatus and testing a sample, the method comprising:

• (i) providing a reference input to a melt flow rate testing apparatus indicative of a selection of a melt flow rate testing procedure from a predetermined list of melt flow rate testing procedures;
• (ii) providing a characteristic input to the melt flow rate testing apparatus indicative of a load mass and a testing temperature for melt flow rate testing;
• (iii) providing a sample input to the melt flow rate testing apparatus indicative of an estimated value of the melt flow rate of the sample;
• and
• (iv) determining, via the melt flow rate testing apparatus without further manual input, at least one characteristic testing parameter for the melt flow rate testing apparatus, utilizing a representative value generated from a combination of said reference input and said sample input,
• wherein the method further comprises at least one of interpolating or extrapolating said representative value from a predetermined standard for said sample input;
• and
• (v) performing, via the melt flow rate testing apparatus, a melt flow rate test on the sample using the at least one characteristic testing parameter.