Abstract: The invention concerns a method which consists in: obtaining a physical model of phenomena involved when an object or product is subjected to a crushing test, said modelling taking into account elastic deformation, plastic deformation and relaxation; adjusting said model to experimental data and characterising the object or product from the adjusted model by means of parameters other than the crushing amplitude value, relative to energy dissipation during deformation, load relaxation or even energy accumulation during deformation. The invention enables to obtain more discriminating and more descriptive data concerning mechanical properties of the objects or products.