Material testing machine

tensileflexureforce

Materials testing is a popular and well known field of measurement to obtain physical and mechanical properties of materials from powders or raw materials, components and composite finished products. It is a wide-ranging field offering force and distance (stress/strain) measurement solutions from the tension of a shoelace to the crush resistance of cardboard packaging, the actuation force of switches to the measurement of friction between two materials. Materials testing instruments such as the TA.HDplusC Texture Analyser are found imperative in quality control and production environments to maintain product quality and performance specifications and also in laboratory or R&D locations where it is important to assess the effects on materials due to for example, change of supplier, process or temperature. How does a Materials Testing Machine work? The arm of a Materials Testing Machine/Texture Analyser instrument holds a load cell – a highly accurate strain gauge that allows the measurement of forces up to 750kg. The arm is moved up and down via the control of Exponent Connect software which can be programmed to move at chosen speeds and moved to chosen distances or the instruments can operate as pre-programmed stand-alone units. During testing, stress and strain data from the compression/tension of a sample are recorded and analysed. Data is usually displayed as graphs which are then analysed and relevant parameters shown in a spreadsheet