The dynamic mechanical properties of composite material specimens are rapidly determined by using two new computer-aided impulse techniques. Small beam specimens are excited in either flexural or extensional vibration by an electromagnetic hammer with a force transducer in its tip, while specimen response is measured with an eddy current probe or accelerometer. A desktop computer/Fast Fourier Transform analyzer system is then used for rapid data acquisition and computation of the complex modulus by curve-fitting to the frequency response function.