Specimen alignment plays a critical role in material testing. If a specimen is not properly aligned prior to or during testing, the accuracy and the reliability of test results will be directly affected, and, depending on the method followed, results may not be acceptable. This post covers the effect of specimen misalignment on the test data, main reasons behind axial misalignment, and ways to improve alignment precision in mechanical test setups.
Peel strength, the average force required to separate two bonded materials from one another, is a property applicable to various industries including aerospace, automotive, adhesives, packaging, biomaterials, microelectronics, and more. Peel test data is used to determine the quality of the adhesive joint and, where applicable, provides information on the effects of processes and of the environment on the adhesive-adherend interface strength.
Below is a blog post based on equipment that we have built for testing solid ice samples. We designed an ADMET biaxial testing system (eXpert 8600 series) in collaboration with the Rock and Ice Deformation Laboratory (RIDL) at Woods Hole Oceanograhic Institution (WHOI).
Test Application
Structural Engineering Reports are insightful reports prepared by a professional engineer that check for potential damages by evaluating property structures and substructures, identify the root cause of damage, and provide recommendations on foundation repairs.
Studying fatigue properties of small specimens can be challenging, yet is needed for research purposes as well as for product and verification testing in industries like the medical device and additive manufacturing.
Fatigue testing allows manufacturers and researchers to get a critical understanding of how a material or component will perform in real-world loading scenarios over the course of time. Common fatigue testing definitions and keywords include:
There are two hydraulic universal testing machine designs. The first uses a single sided ram to apply force and requires gravity for the piston to return home. This type of hydraulic testing machine is the most common and is used for static tests only. A schematic of a ram based hydraulic tester is shown in Figure 1. The second type of hydraulic machine uses a dual acting piston. The dual acting piston design provides control in both the up and down direction and is commonly used for fatigue testing applications.
Viscoelasticity is the property of a material that exhibits some combination of both elastic or spring-like and viscous or flow-like behavior.
Tensile tests are used to determine how materials behave under tension load. In a simple tensile test, a sample is typically pulled to its breaking point to determine the ultimate tensile strength of the material. The amount of force (F) applied to the sample and the elongation (∆L) of the sample are measured throughout the test.
This blog post covers the description and determination of Young’s modulus, tangent modulus, and chord modulus. These properties, commonly used for product and material specification, can be calculated by subjecting a specimen to uniaxial force, measuring its stress and strain properties, and generating a stress-strain curve. The accuracy of the modulus determination depends on the precision of the load and strain measurements.