Instron Materials Test Guide

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1

Ien:i|e Ie:Iing 4
0reen Plastio: 1he 0arbage Uump Killer? 5
3tudy 3hows Uifferenoes in Mesh Materials for ernia Repair 7
why Alignment is lmportant in 1ensile 1esting 8
1esting of igh 3trength Rebar 9
idden 3ensors Provide Lxtra 3afety 10
1he Bridge to 3afety 11
what's lnside our Arteries? 1esting Could Reveal our Risk of 3troke 12
: we take great oare to ensure our test setup is oonsistent and our test equipment is as good as it oan
be, but our Poisson's ratio values still show too muoh variability. ls there anything else we oan do? 13
Multi-Purpose 0rip 3hields 14
: Can l trust my strain figures when they are derived from orosshead position rather than from an
extensometer? 15
: when testing some speoimens, the strain values appear to go baokwards when the speoimen is
yielding. Could extensometer slippage be oausing this effeot? 16
: whioh grips are best for testing thin metal speoimens? 17
Can olip-on extensometers affeot my strain results when testing thermoplastios? 18
Uo our 1est Results Change when our 0perators Change? 19
3tudy Reveals Benefits of video Lxtensometers 20
Proteot our lnvestment with Proper use of 0rip Aooessories 21
1ightening our wedge 0rips 22
: ow oan l get better r-value results when using olip-on extensometers? 23
: what style of extensometer do l need? 24
laster, More Consistent 1esting with Pneumatio 0rips 25
: ow do l seleot an extensometer when determining a yield stress? 26
worn 0rip laoes? 27
Choosing the Right 0rips 28
why Am l Not 3eeing upper ield? 29
what to Consider when Measuring Plastios 30
ow oan l improve the aoouraoy and repeatability of my Poisson's Ratio results? 31
1he Best 3olution for 0ripping Low-loroe 3peoimens 32
why do l see a negative load after olamping my tensile speoimen? 33
lndioating the Correot 0auge Length for our 3peoimen 34
0rip Attaohment 1eohniques 35
: why does the speed of tensile testing after yield vary from material speoifioation to material
speoifioation? ln your opinion, is there a signifioant differenoe in results? 36
: why do l see a negative load value when l grip my speoimen? 37
: why am l getting low modulus values from my test maohine? 38
Proteoting 0ur Lnvironment: Reduoing waste in Landfills 39
1he lnvisible Rebar: Miorosoopio Nanotubes Uramatioally lnorease Material 3trength 40
Ccmpre::icn Ie:Iing 41
1he 1ower of Babel: 1esting the Possibilities 42
A New 'ip' Material 43
Reoent 1esting unoovers 1itanio's Mystery 44
lrom C02 to 3olid Rook 45
HIIp://www.in:Ircn.ccm/:uL:criLe
2
Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing 4
lnoreasing Lffioienoy in Knoop and viokers 1esting 47
Best Praotioes: whioh Rookwell 3oale to use 48
: ow far apart should l spaoe eaoh Rookwell hardness test 49
ardness 1esting on Cylindrioal 3peoimens 50
1he Uifferenoe between a Knoop and a viokers 1est 52
: what is the differenoe between a Knoop and a viokers test? 52
ow 0R&R elps our Rookwell 1esting Prooess 53
: what is a 1ominy test? 54
ow Can 1esting 3trengthen our 3mile? 55
A31M L18-07: New Changes will Affeot our Rookwell ardness lndenters 56
ardness 1esters: Closed-Loop or Ueadweight? 57
Uifferent Rubber ardness 3oales for our 1esting Needs 58
3eleot 1aw laoes Based on the ardness of our 3peoimens 59
: ow do l know when my hardness test blook is no longer useful? 60
lmpccI Ie:Iing 1
why 3hould l lnstrument My lmpaot 1ests? 62
why lnstrumented lmpaot 1esting is Beooming More Popular 63
: what Causes the lirst Peak in the Load Curve of My lmpaot 1est Uata? 65
: ow Muoh Lnergy 3hould l use for My lmpaot 1est? 66
Uamaged 1ups Change Results 67
FcIigue Ie:Iing 8
: l want to perform oyolio testing on my statio testing maohine. ow fast oan l go? 69
3M Lnsures uality under Uifferent 1est Conditions 70
Lab-grown 1issue 71
Mao0yver-style Leg Braoe May Reduoe Amputations 72
volvo Meets the Challenges of igh 3train Rate 1esting 73
Charaoterizing 3pinal Range of Motion for Uevelopment of lmproved Uevioes 74
Patient's 0wn 1issue Repairs 1orn Ligaments 75
3imulating Physiologioal Conditions of lmplants 76
8enc Ie:Iing 77
: what is the differenoe between a single-point and a 4-point flexure test? 78
1he lmpenetrable 3hip 79
Icr:icn Ie:Iing 80
: ow oan l measure the torsional properties of a pipe or oylinder? 81
EnvircnmenIc| Ie:Iing 82
1esting at igh or Low 1emperatures 83
using 0rips in a Low 1emperature Chamber 84
CcmpcnenI Ie:Iing 85
3

Challenges in 1esting Biomedioal Components 85
: ow does side loading and speoimen/oomponent misalignment of varying geometries of medioal
devioes and implants affeot my test results? ow should l best address these ohallenges? 87
ow does the meohanioal testing of solar oells oontribute to the 'green energy' initiative? 88
ScfIwcre Iip: 8
: when writing a prooedure in Bluehill 3oftware, how do l deal with '1oe Compensation' (as desoribed
in A31M U882) when testing the seoant modulus (1) of a thin film (1-5 mils)? 3hould l add a preload?
And how muoh is appropriate? 90
Capturing 1esting in Aotion 91
: 1he way we ourrently test for N-value is oumbersome. we are looking for a way to improve produotivity.
ls there a way that we oan get the program to automatioally assign the uniform elongation at the end of
the oaloulation, instead of having to do it manually? 92
: what happens if power is suddenly lost during a test? will l lose all my data in Bluehill? 93
: ow oan l be oertain my extensometer is ready to use? 94
Correoting for Complianoe 95
Benefits of the Preload leature in Bluehill
3oftware 96
: Uo l Need to Lnter Uimensions for Laoh 3peoimen? 97
Service cnc Cc|iLrcIicn Iip: 8
Are ou Always 'lnvestigation-Ready?' 99
: Can you give me a letter oertifying that my test is in aooordanoe with a speoifio A31M or l30 standard?
101
: what does aooreditation mean and how does it affeot testing standards? 102
ow do you move a 250,000 pound deadweight staok, while maintaining its integrity and aoouraoy? 103
Errcr: in Ie:Iing 104
Are ou Reoeiving the ighest uality 1est Results? 105
what is Uata Rate? 106
: what is the Relationship between Aoouraoy and Resolution? 107
when ou 3houldn't Balanoe the Load Cell 108
1est 3peoimen Cutting and 3tamping 109
Ie:Iing SIcnccrc: 110
: what types of international testing standards are used in the medioal devioe industry? 111
: what is 21 ClR Part 11 and how does it affeot me? 112
: l've been testing to A31M test standards and now l've been asked to do the l30 equivalent. what is the
differenoe between A31M and l30? Can l use my existing test fixtures? 113
: what testing standards serve as guidelines and requirements for the development and manufaoture of
hip implants? 114
Cu:Icmer SIcrie: 115
Researoh lnstitute Partners with Private 3teel Company 116
Materials 3oienoe for oung Minds 118
1he 3ound of uality 119
1he 3oienoe Behind 3uperhuman 3trength 120
lormula 1 Raoer 0ears up with Carbon liber 121
Materials 1esting Lxplored in igh 3ohool 122
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4

A tensile test, also known as tension test, is probably the most fundamental type of meohanioal test you oan
perform on material. 1ensile tests are simple, relatively inexpensive, and fully standardized. By pulling on
something, you will very quiokly determine how the material will reaot to foroes being applied in tension. As the
material is being pulled, you will find its strength along with how muoh it will elongate.
Ien:i|e Ie:Iing
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5

Green F|c:Iic: Ihe GcrLcge Dump Ki||er
1he 0reat Paoifio 0arbage Patoh is a oolossal floating garbage dump in the northern Paoifio 0oean. Roughly the
size of 1exas, it lies between awaii and 3an lranoisoo. lt oontains about 3.5 million tons of trash, muoh of it
plastio--shoes, toys, bags, paoifiers, wrappers, toothbrushes, and bottles are only part of what oan be found in
this dump. A similar dump exists in the Atlantio 0oean.
1he global buildup of plastio, both in the sea and along every shoreline, is an environmental nightmare. Most
oommeroial plastios are produoed from petroleum. 1hese plastios degrade into small pieoes so plastio waste
builds up and oan exist for many years. A great deal of researoh has taken plaoe to develop biodegradable
plastios that break down with exposure to sunlight, water or dampness, baoteria, enzymes, and so on. lnstron
oustomer Metabolix, lno. has been researohing for two deoades to develop a oommeroially viable
biodegradable plastio from oorn sugar and has reoently made the leap from researoh to oommeroial produotion
with their produot Mirel'.

Plastios produoed from plant material are not new, they have been around for more than 150 years. lirst
produoed in 1845, polylaotio aoid (PLA), a thermoplastio polyester, was made by fermenting various
agrioultural produots suoh as oornstaroh. Uow Chemioal revived PLA produotion in the 1950s, but high
produotion oosts preoluded its widespread use. ln the 1980s, the British ohemioal oompany lmperial Chemioal
lndustries (lCl) developed Biopol, a bioplastio produoed through baoterial aotion. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PA)
polymers are produoed by most speoies of baoteria from food souroes suoh as plant sugars and oils. 0ne of
these PAs, known as polyhydroxybutyrate (PB), has properties similar to those of polypropylene. But onoe
more, lCl was unable to produoe Biopol oheaply enough to oompete with oonventional plastios. Monsanto
purohased Biopol from lCl in 1996. ln 1998, Monsanto disoontinued its bioplastios operations due to high
oosts and limited oommeroial opportunities. lt sold its interests to the u.3. biosoienoe oompany Metabolix that
began researohing and developing a oost-effeotive prooess for manufaoturing PB-based plastios. ln 2006,
Metabolix formed a joint venture oalled 1elles with the agrioultural giant Aroher Uaniels Midland to
oommeroialize a bioplastio under the name Mirel.
Mirel is designed as a suite of produots, eaoh of whioh oan
withstand heat and oold, is oapable of oontaining food produots,
and biodegrades in natural soil and marine environments, home
oomposting and industrial oomposting faoilities, where these
faoilities are available. owever, like nearly all bioplastios and
organio matter, Mirel is not designed to biodegrade in
oonventional landfills. 1he rate and extent of Mirel's
biodegradability depends on the size and shape of the artioles
made from it. As with any new material, its testing requirements
have been extensive. lts produot data sheet gives meohanioal
test speoifioations for tensile strength
?
, elongation at break,
flexural modulus, flexural strength, notohed lL0U impaot values,
and melt flow figures, using A31M and l30 standards.
Photo oourtesy of Mirel
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After initially produoing Mirel bioplastios in a pilot plant, 1elles opened a new produotion plant in Clinton, lowa,
u3A, in Ueoember 2009 with a 50,000 ton/year oapaoity.
0ne of the first Mirel produots is the injeotion molding grade used to make 60 of the pen oomponents for the
$1.25 Biodegradable Paper Mate pen made by Newell Rubbermaid. 1he pen oosts more to manufaoture, but
Paper Mate foreoasts a strong demand. 0ther potential applioations are oups, food oontainers, beverage
oartons, razor handles, brushes, applioators, oell phones, erosion oontrol netting, plant pots, and plant olips.
1he suooess of the venture is partially linked to oonsumers' oontinued and inoreasing demand for green"
produots, though businesses also use the material as a oost savings measure, in applioations where
biodegradation saves time and labor. 1he market appears oonfident that the demand is there, with Metabolix
more than doubling its share prioe sinoe lebruary despite a $38 million loss last year. lt remains to be seen if
the ourrent enthusiasm to take oare of the environment oan eventually have the effeot of shrinking or even
eliminating the ooean garbage dumps.

What is Tensile Strength?
Ultimate strength of a material subjected to tensile loading. It is the maximum stress developed
in a material in a tensile test.
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7

SIucy Shcw: Difference: in Me:h McIeric|: fcr Hernic Fepcir
1wenty years ago a patient undergoing hernia surgery would be marked by a notioeable soar, endure a long
reoovery time, and aooording to a medioal study, up to 20 of these patients would experienoe a reourrent
hernia. Uue to medioal advanoements, hernia surgery is now less invasive, has a quioker reoovery time, and
deoreased risk of reourrenoe (less than 1). what is this magioal medioal advanoement? Laparosoopio
surgery.
Aooording to Ur. Corey Ueeken,
Uireotor of the Biomedioal
Lngineering and Biomaterials
Laboratory at washington
university's 3ohool of Medioine, it is
important for surgeons to ohoose an
appropriate prosthetio mesh material
when performing laparosoopio hernia
repair.
ln the world of hernia repair, there
are so many materials and pre-
formed sizes available for surgeons
to ohoose from," Ueeken said. 1he
mesh that is right for a partioular
patient and type of repair may not be
the best ohoioe for the next patient."
Ueeken, a biomedioal engineer,
wants to give surgeons more
standardized information to oompare
when ohoosing what is best for their
patients. 1his inoludes a reoent projeot to oharaoterize the properties of a variety of mesh materials available
for hernia repair applioations. Uuring this projeot, Ueeken and her team used a tensile testing system to
measure the biomeohanioal properties of more than 25 different hernia repair materials using teohniques suoh
as suture retention and tear testing, as well as standard uniaxial and mesh strength testing. Ueeken hopes to
present the data from this study at an upooming surgioal oonferenoe to make surgeons aware of differenoes in
the biomeohanioal properties of hernia repair materials.

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8
Why /|ignmenI i: lmpcrIcnI in Ien:i|e Ie:Iing
Laboratories performing low-oyole fatigue tests know how important it is to have good alignment of the test
speoimen relative to the prinoiple stress axis. 1here is an inoreasing awareness of the role alignment oan play
in the aoouraoy of tensile testing results.
0rganizations, suoh as NAUCAP and A31M, are addressing this in the form of laboratory aooreditation and
methodology for measuring alignment. lor example, a NAUCAP audit oheoklist for a oomposite materials
testing lab will now inolude an alignment oheok of the testing instrument and refer to A31M L1012 - 3tandard
Praotioe for verifioation of 1est lrame and 3peoimen Alignment under 1ensile and Compressive Axial loroe
Applioation - as the method of oheoking alignment. 1his prooess ensures the testing instrument is oapable of
performing tensile tests that produoe less than 10 bending for non-brittle materials and less than 5
bending for brittle materials.

1o meet the bending requirements noted above, the testing instrument must be designed and built to a high
standard and the alignment of the loading frame, load oell and grips must be measured to determine the
peroent bending. 1his is typioally done using an alignment speoimen having a total of 12 strain gauges, four at
the upper gauge length area, four in the oenter, and four at the lower gauge length area. 1he outputs of the 12
strain gauges are used to oaloulate oonoentrioity error and angularity error. 0ur AlignPro 3oftware is available
to perform the oaloulations for peroent bending and provide a guide to the adjustments needed to oorreot for
bending that exoeeds aooeptable limits.

Ien:i|e Ie:Iing


Ie:Iing cf High SIrengIh FeLcr
Many standards govern rebar testing inoluding: A31M A 370, A31M A 615, A31M A 996, B3 4449 and LN
10002-1. 1he meohanioal tests these standards outline oan be demanding on operators and testing
equipment. 3o, when testing large rebar samples - #14 (all grades) - we suggest using a single test spaoe
load frame in lieu of traditional dual test spaoe styles. lor this test we used a 1500 KN model, whioh has a
oapaoity of 1500 kN (337,500 lbf) and aooommodates rebar speoimens ranging in length from 400 mm to
700 mm.
1his load frame features a top-mounted hydraulio aotuator whioh plaoes the
loading area at ground level. 1his signifioantly reduoed our lifting requirements
for loading the heavy rebar speoimens. Additionally, we were able to perform
both tension and bend tests on the rebar sample by adding oompression
adapters to the tension grips. 1his saved ohange-over time beoause we didn't
need to use the overhead orane to remove the large, heavy tension grips. Adding
the oompression adapter and bend fixture took only a few minutes and involved
tightening a few sorews.
lor the tension test we used hydraulio wedge grips beoause the initial olamping
foroe reduoed grip slippage on the uneven surfaoe of the rebar. 1hese hydraulio
wedge grips aooept rebar speoimens from 10 mm (0.39 in) to 70 mm (2.75 in) in diameter. 1he grip jaws are
vee-shaped with a oustom-out groove to aooept the ribs found on rebar.
linally, we used an automatio extensometer to oapture strain. 1he model we seleoted, an M300B, has an
adjustable gauge length from 10 mm to 300 mm (required for most rebar applioations). lt automatioally
olamps to the ribs of the rebar surfaoe when a test is started and unolamps at a speoified point during the test.
1he strain data oan be used for required modulus
?
and yield
?
oaloulations.

!"#$%&'%()*+,+'-%
Rate of ohange of strain as a funotion of stress. 1he slope of the straight line portion of a stress-
strain diagram. 1angent modulus of elastioity is the slope of the stress-strain diagram at any point.
3eoant modulus of elastioity is stress divided by strain at any given value of stress or strain. lt also is
oalled stress-strain ratio. learn more >>
!"#$%&'%.&/,*-%
lndioation of maximum stress that oan be developed in a material without oausing plastio
deformation. lt is the stress at whioh a material exhibits a speoified permanent deformation and is a
praotioal approximation of elastio limit. learn more >>
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10
Hiccen Sen:cr: Frcvice ExIrc ScfeIy
when someone says 'fiber optios', you most likely think of teleoommunioations and not airorafts or stadiums.
owever, fiber optios oan be embedded in struotures to oontinuously monitor meohanioal strain and
temperature ohanges, a teohnologioal breakthrough in the sensing industry.
istorioally, suoh measurements were oaptured using eleotrioal-type sensing devioes, but in extreme
environments, suoh teohnology oan be vulnerable. 0n the other hand, optioal fiber sensors are rugged,
effioient, and extremely light, making them partioularly interesting for the aerospaoe industry.
liber 0ptio 3ensors & 3ensing 3ystems (l03&3), a
Belgium-based oompany, turns optio fiber into a sensor
by exploiting a physios law known as the Bragg oondition.
3imply put, through exposing the oore of a fiber to intense
ultraviolet light, the refleotive properties oan be used to
measure temperature and strain.
l03&3 is ourrently working on two notable projeots. 1he
first is monitoring the struotural health of the Athens
0lympio velodrome roof struoture (designed by the
famous arohiteot 3antiago Calatrava). 1he seoond projeot
is the in-flight struotural health monitoring of airoraft
struotures for Airbus. l03&3 uses an lnstron testing
system for the oalibration of its strain sensors and
performs tensile tests on oomposite samples embedded
with liber 0ptio 3ensors.
'Plaoing fiber optio sensors in struotural elements of an
airplane enables oontinuous monitoring of the aotual
distribution of meohanioal strain and temperature data
within these struotures,' says Mark voet, CL0 of l03&3.
'1his way, it immediately alerts operators of abnormal load situations like exoessive vibration and internal
damage, allowing them to take the appropriate remedial aotion.'

Photo oourtesy l03&3
Photo oourtesy of l03&3
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11

Ihe 8ricge Ic ScfeIy
Lighty peroent of all earthquakes ooour along the edge of the Paoifio Coast. 3o far in 2007, there have been
nearly 15,000 deteoted earthquakes worldwide. Uepending on its foroe, some buildings, roadways or bridges
oould oollapse.
when sitting in stopped traffio on a bridge, do you
wonder how it holds hundreds of tons without
oollapsing? California Uepartment of
1ransportation (Caltrans) ensures California is
getting the highest quality materials for bridge
and highway projeots throughout the state by
testing materials, from oonorete to reinforoing
bars to struotural steel oomponents and oouplers.
with a daily volume of nearly 300,000 vehioles,
one of the busiest bridges in the u3A is the 71
year old west-ooast 3an lranoisoo-0akland Bay
Bridge (3l0BB). 1his 4.5 mile (7.2 km) long
bridge oonsists of two major spans. 0noe
deemed impossible to build, Caltrans designated
the 3l0BB as the emergenoy lifeline route to use
in disaster response aotivities. 1his requires the
bridge to be seoure, fully funotional, and
earthquake-resistant. ln 1989, the bridge olosed
for more than a month due to repairs needed
after the Loma Prieta earthquake. ln response,
the eastern span between 0akland and erba
Buena lsland is now being replaoed by an entirely
new orossing - making the bridge less susoeptible to damage during an earthquake.
1his is known as the Last 3pan 3eismio 3afety Projeot.
'we are using lnstron's testing system to tensile test large diameter steel
bars (#14 and #18) to A31M A 615, A31M A 706 and A31M A 722
speoifioations,' said Rosme Aguilar, the 3truotural Materials 1esting Lab
Branoh Chief. '1his oustom built 2 million pound (8,896 kN) oapaoity
system has replaoed our existing testing system beoause its 1 million
pound (4,448 kN) oapaoity oould no longer handle materials of larger
diameter and strength that require a higher oapaoity.'
1he system, whioh stands more than 26 feet (8 meters) high, is looated at
the 3truotural Materials 1esting Lab in 3aoramento, CA. As California's
only state transportation testing lab aooredited by the Amerioan
Assooiation for Laboratory Aooreditation (A2LA), it quiokly responded to a
reoent bridge oollapse due to a tanker truok explosion. 1he lab had the
responsibilities of assisting with the damage assessment to determine if
the material properties of the steel girders and bent oaps had been
oompromised due to the heat from the tanker truok fire. Remarkably, the
damaged bridge was fully funotional in 18 days.

Photo oourtesy of Cal1rans
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12
WhcI': ln:ice Ycur /rIerie: Ie:Iing Ccu|c
Fevec| Ycur Fi:k cf SIrcke
3trokes are the seoond most oommonly feared oondition, in
faot 2 out of 3 people know someone who has suffered a
stroke. ln order to better understand prevention and
treatment, many researohers are studying the oauses of
strokes, inoluding the Uepartment of Lngineering at 1he
university of Cambridge under the direotion of Ur. Miohael
3utoliffe.
1ogether with his oolleagues, Ur. 3utoliffe is studying plaque
(a material that is deposited on the walls of the arteries)
and the hardening of the oarotid artery, whioh oan lead to a
stroke. 1he aim of their researoh is to develop better
methods for estimating a person's risk of having a stroke
and to improve therapy seleotion.
Ur. 3utoliffe is testing plaque-filled arteries using an lnstron
3367 30kN universal 1esting Maohine to understand the
modulus and strength ohanges assooiated with plaque
growth. 1hese results will be used in models of the oarotid
artery to prediot rupture of the artery and fluid flow
patterns.
'ln the future, we will be working with others to link the way
oells ohange their shape under stress with tissue-level
testing and olinioal experimental work. 0ur aim is to
understand how the stresses these plaques experienoe in
the arteries affeot the way they grow,' said Ur. 3utoliffe.

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13

C: We Icke grecI ccre Ic en:ure cur Ie:I :eIup i: ccn:i:IenI cnc cur Ie:I
HTXLSPHQWLVDVJRRGDVLWFDQEHEXWRXU3RLVVRQVUDWLRYDOXHVVWLOOVKRZWRR
much vcricLi|iIy. l: Ihere cnyIhing e|:e we ccn cc

A. Poisson's Ratio is defined by the
division of transverse strain by axial
strain. lnstron has oarried out extensive
reproduoibility studies to investigate
inoonsistent results between labs, as
well as within individual labs. Uiffioulty
in oaloulating the ratio relates direotly to
the measurement of transverse and
axial strain at very small strain ranges.
As you indioate, a oonsistent setup with
aoourate equipment is vital. lor most
plastios, the reoommended
extensometer is a high-resolution
biaxial extensometer. lt is equally
important to use the appropriate grips.
Pneumatio side aoting grips are
preferred sinoe they are self-aligning
and offer adjustable olamping
pressures, whioh allows for oonsistent
olamping foroes on the speoimen from
one to the next.
ou should try setting up a small preload value on all your future test methods for plastios.
when speoimens are initially plaoed into grips, they oan be subjeoted to small oompressive foroes. 1hese
foroes oan oause speoimens to bend imperoeptibly, oausing inaoourate and inoonsistent results. we have
shown that establishing a small preload as a part of the test method eliminates those oompressive foroes on
speoimens and improves the repeatability of results.

!"#$%&'%01/,)#*-%
A test segment where the orosshead moves to load the speoimen to a speoified value before a test
starts. Uata is not oaptured during the preload segment.

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14
Mu|Ii-Furpc:e Grip Shie|c:
1he new lnstron pneumatio side-aoting grips are supplied with adjustable
jaw faoe shields on either side of the grip. ou oan adjust the position of
the shields so that you oan insert a speoimen between the jaw faoes, but
the shields help to prevent you from inadvertently plaoing a finger between
the jaws.
Many people don't realize that the shields also provide useful guidanoe for
speoimen oentering. 1here are two oentering guides on the shields, one for
round speoimens and the other for flat speoimens.
A notoh in the shield arms is aligned with the oenter of the grip jaws. 1his
notoh is useful when mounting a round or a thin speoimen suoh as wire or
thread. when the shields are oorreotly installed and aligned for the
speoimen size, you insert the speoimen between the shields and hold it
against the notoh while you olose the grip jaws. ou are then assured that
the speoimen is oentered.
lor flat speoimens, there are marks engraved at intervals on the shield
arms equidistant from the oenter. when inserting a flat speoimen, you use
the marks as a guide to aoourately looating the speoimen in the oenter of
the grip jaws.

Ien:i|e Ie:Iing

15

C: Ccn l Iru:I my :Ircin figure: when Ihey cre cerivec frcm crc::hecc pc:iIicn
rcIher Ihcn frcm cn exIen:cmeIer
A. Crosshead movement is measured using a high-resolution enooder. when you move the orosshead with no
speoimen installed, the reported measurement of that movement is often more aoourate than for many
extensometers.
owever, when you install a speoimen and apply a tensile or oompressive
load, the aoouraoy of the measurement of orosshead movement beoomes
dependent upon the system oomplianoe."
Complianoe refers to the tendenoy of the various oomponents of a test
system to defleot under load. Consider every oomponent in a test system as
equivalent to a very stiff spring. when you apply a load to that oomponent,
even a major item suoh as a orosshead, it will defleot, either bending,
stretohing, or oompressing. lf it is a very stiff spring the defleotion is tiny,
but still measurable. Complianoe is the inverse of stiffness, the stiffer, the
less oompliant.
1here are three souroes of oomplianoe in a system: the load frame, the load string oomponents, and the
speoimen itself.
1he load frame is designed with a very high stiffness. lnstron measures the stiffness at a partioular load and
publishes that figure as part of the speoifioations of the load frame.
Load string oomplianoe is usually not known. 1here may be few or many oomponents in a load string, grips or
fixtures, oouplings, one or more load oells, and so on. Many oomponents do not have published stiffness
values.
1he speoimen oomplianoe is usually what you are trying to measure.
As a rule of thumb, if the oomplianoe of your speoimen is around 100 times greater than the oomplianoe of the
load frame and the load string oomponents, you oan assume that the reported orosshead movement is
equivalent to the defleotion experienoed by the speoimen. owever, if you are testing a very stiff speoimen, you
should always use an extensometer to measure speoimen defleotion.
lf using an extensometer is not possible, then you should evaluate the system oomplianoe before the test.
Lither install an extremely stiff speoimen and apply a tensile foroe, or install oompression platens and apply a
oompressive foroe with the platens touohing eaoh other. 1he resulting defleotion measurement gives a olose
indioation of the system oomplianoe. when you test the speoimen, you oan remove this value from the result.

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1
C: When Ie:Iing :cme :pecimen:, Ihe :Ircin vc|ue: cppecr Ic gc Lcckwcrc:
when Ihe :pecimen i: yie|cing. Ccu|c exIen:cmeIer :|ippcge Le ccu:ing Ihi:
effecI
A. es it oould be, but if you are aware of it and you have mounted
the extensometer oorreotly it's unlikely. lt's more probable that the
strain is really going baokwards.
Many metal alloys have a non-homogenous struoture with grains of
different sizes and orientation, and they also oontain various
impurities. under loads that are suffioient to oause the material to
yield, bands of looalized plastio deformation, known as Luder's
bands, oan form in the otherwise unyielding portion of the material.
1hese bands of dislooations are the main oontributor to the
disoontinuous yielding portion of the stress/strain ourve. 1hey oan
ooour both inside and outside of the gauge length of the speoimen, moving along the length of the speoimen as
the load inoreases.
our extensometer is probably reaoting to yields that are ooourring both inside and outside of the gauge length,
whioh oan oreate this phenomenon of baokwards strain.

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17

C: Which grip: cre Le:I fcr Ie:Iing Ihin meIc|
:pecimen:
A: 3orew side-aotion grips open the door for speoimen slippage,
high standard deviation, and low throughput. we reoommend self-
tightening wedge grips for metal applioations. 1hey offer
improvement in all of these areas, do not require any tools, and are
easy to use.
0noe the speoimen is inserted between the jaw faoes, manually
turn the lever to olose the wedged faoes and apply only a slight
amount of olamping foroe. 1his is suffioient enough for the jaw
faoes to pull on the speoimen onoe the test is started. 1he olamping
foroe inoreases as the speoimen is pulled, eliminating jaw breaks
that are normally oaused by high initial olamping foroe. 1he exaot
model of grips and faoes often requires a disoussion about the
material you're testing.

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18
Ccn c|ip-cn exIen:cmeIer: cffecI my :Ircin re:u|I: when Ie:Iing Ihermcp|c:Iic:
1here are a variety of attributes used to desoribe
thermoplastios sinoe properties are dependent on the
polymer, as well as additives. ln some instanoes,
thermoplastios are relatively soft, so knife edges on
traditional olip-on style extensometers may oause premature
failures. 1his ooours when high stress points are oreated
where the knife edges oontaot the speoimen. ln other
instanoes, thermoplastios may be rigid, if glass or talo is
added. lor these materials, signifioant energy releases may
ooour at failure, possibly damaging the olip-on extensometer
sinoe they are in direot oontaot with the speoimen.
Non-oontaoting video extensometers overoome both issues by
providing a means to measure speoimen strain without
having direot physioal oontaot with the speoimen. A high
resolution digital oamera and real-time image prooessing
allows the devioe to aoquire aoourate strain data without
interfering with the speoimen.

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1

Dc Ycur Ie:I Fe:u|I: Chcnge When Ycur CpercIcr: Chcnge
Uuring a tensile test the speoimen is subjeoted to a foroe purely in the tensile direotion along a single axis. lf
the speoimen is not aligned properly, it will be pulled along multiple axes, whioh oan oause premature
speoimen failure and adversely affeot any measurements oaptured during testing. Also, operators oould load
the speoimen differently or inaoourately - oausing erroneous end results.
1o ensure proper alignment and aoourate results amongst multiple operators, we suggest using a speoimen
alignment devioe. 1hese speoimen oentering devioes (whioh are shaped like an 'L') are attaohed to the grip
and help oenter the speoimen within the grip faoes. 1he operator oan adjust the oentering devioe - making
sure the speoimen is oentered and not over-inserted. 0noe the operator has the oentering devioe set properly,
eaoh subsequent speoimen will be in the same looation in the grips, allowing for aoourate, repeatable results.

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20
SIucy Fevec|: 8enefiI: cf Vicec ExIen:cmeIer:
we oonduoted a study to better understand the extensometry needs
of our oustomers. we found that many of our oustomers
experienoed oommon issues while testing strain with olip-on
extensometers. lnoluded are a few solutions from that study, along
with information about an alternative to olip-on extensometers.
lrom those surveyed, our study revealed:
Problem: 77 of those testing fragile, expensive, or delioate
speoimens (inoluding tendons and sutures) struggled to oapture
strain without damaging their sample. 1hese oustomers reported
that the weight of a olip-on extensometer influenoed the sample's
behavior under test.
3olution: 3inoe video extensometers do not oome in oontaot with the
speoimen, it makes them less damaging to the samples. 1hey oan
also be used with in vivo testing of biomedioal samples.
Problem: Customers testing speoimens that break violently were
unable to use a olip-on extensometer through failure. 1hey also
reported problems with broken extensometers and felt uneasy
about lab operators removing a olip-on devioe while the speoimen
was under load.
3olution: video extensometers offer lab operators the oonvenienoe of oapturing strain through failure sinoe
they do not need to be removed.
Problem: Many of our oustomers testing at high and low temperatures struggled to find traditional
extensometry solutions that worked well with ohambers.
3olution: 86 of those who used ohambers preferred video extensometers over traditional olip-on styles.
ln oonolusion: we disoovered that, of our oustomers who have used both traditional-style and video
extensometers, 77 preferred the video teohnology. Learn more about non-oontaot video extensometry, or
oontaot an applioations speoialist.

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21

FrcIecI Ycur lnve:ImenI wiIh Frcper U:e cf Grip /cce::crie:
Uo you notioe your internal orosshead grip jaws extending outside of the system's orosshead while running
tests? lf you do, this may oause extensive damage to the maohine. 1his style of grip is most oommonly used in
our 3A1LC' 3eries, a produot line designed to deliver high-oapaoity tensile foroes up to 3,000 kN. 3inoe this
foroe is so high, it oan deform the maohine's orosshead if the proper aooessories are not used. 1his damage
may be irreparable and require replaoement of several oostly oomponents, not to mention oause downtime.

1o prevent this, we suggest using grip spaoers (also oalled filler plates) to aooommodate different sizes of
speoimens while keeping the jaws inside the orosshead.
view an animation on ln-head 0rip Parts & 0rip Aooessories

Ien:i|e Ie:Iing

22
IighIening Ycur Wecge Grip:
A oommon mistake many oustomers make to troubleshoot speoimen slippage
when using their meohanioal wedge style tensile grips is over tightening them.
0ver tightening a wedge grip oan damage the grip and exert unwanted load on
the speoimen. 1he meohanioal design of a wedge grip works in the following
way:
1. A tension foroe is applied to the speoimen
2. 1his tension foroe oauses the speoimen to pull downward on the jaw
faoes (provided there is good bite between the jaw faoes and the
speoimen)
3. 1he faoes slide through the grip body along the wedge path
4. 1he faoes then squeeze the speoimen
1his entire prooess is self-tightening - the higher the tensile load, the harder
the jaw faoes squeeze in on the speoimen. while over-tightening isn't an
effeotive way to improve slippage, oustomers oan minimize speoimen slippage
by improving the bite through the use of proper jaw faoes and ensuring the
speoimen oontaots at least 2/3 of the grip faoes.

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23

C: Hcw ccn l geI LeIIer r-vc|ue re:u|I: when u:ing c|ip-cn exIen:cmeIer:
A: Uetermining r-value for A31M L 517 requires preoise measurement of axial and transverse strain. when
using olip-on extensometers, make sure you are praotioing
the following teohniques:
1. 3et gauge lengths
2. Align instruments on the speoimen
3. Lero instruments with no load on the speoimen
4. Cheok that the knife edges do not deform the speoimen
5. Be oertain that the speoimen is not bent
6. Lnsure speoimen markings haven't deformed the
speoimen
7. Be oertain speoimens have smooth edges and meet
A31M L 517

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24
C: WhcI :Iy|e cf exIen:cmeIer cc l neec
A: 1here are two main styles of extensometers - oontaoting and non-oontaoting. Contaoting extensometers are
widely used and provide aoourate strain measurement. owever, some applioations (like biologioal tissue or
thin film) demand a devioe that won't damage the speoimen or affeot test results. Non-oontaoting
extensometers provide an ideal solution for delioate speoimens, for speoimens that break violently, for tests
oonduoted in a ohamber, and for speoimens of varying lengths and elongations. An lnstron Applioations
Lngineer oan reoommend the oorreot instrument for your testing.

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25

Fc:Ier, Mcre Ccn:i:IenI Ie:Iing WiIh FneumcIic Grip:
while sorew side aotion grips are appropriate for oertain applioations, you may experienoe long setup times,
premature speoimen breaking at the jaws (due to over-tightening) or speoimen slippage (due to under-
tightening). ln addition, you will always need one hand to tighten the grip while the other hand holds the
speoimen, whioh is not always oonvenient and may result in a misaligned speoimen.
upgrading to pneumatio side aotion grips oould make your testing easier and faster.

Ien:i|e Ie:Iing

2
C: Hcw cc l :e|ecI cn exIen:cmeIer when
ceIermining c yie|c :Ire::
A: Lxtensometers are available from 1 to 3000+ full
soale travel, but using the longer travel is not always the
best solution. when testing stiff speoimens, suoh as steel,
an extensometer with 10 or less travel is reoommended to
ensure adequate resolution for the determination of yield.
0n the other hand, materials suoh as plastios oommonly
yield at greater strain values, and therefore an instrument
with 50 travel is reoommended. Long travel instruments
(100 or more) should be
reserved for high-elongation
speoimens, suoh as rubber. An
lnstron Applioation Lngineer oan
reoommend the oorreot
instrument for your speoimen
type.

Ien:i|e Ie:Iing

27

Wcrn Grip Fcce:
Lffioient gripping of your test speoimen is important for reliable, trouble-free testing. Like any tool, you need to
keep your jaw faoes in good oondition for optimum performanoe.
Chipped, worn or ologged teeth on jaw faoes oan produoe slippage and with
it, the temptation to use exoessive foroe, inoreasing the likelihood of jaw
breaks.
unevenly worn faoes oan also produoe undesirable bending effeots.
Rubber-ooated faoes oan gradually degrade over time in your shop
environment, partioularly in higher temperature oonditions.
Cord and yarn grips rely on a smooth, polished surfaoe for optimum
resistanoe to jaw breaks. 1he original surfaoes oan wear with heavy use.
1he best way to restore lost gripping effioienoy is with a new set of jaw
faoes.

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28
Chcc:ing Ihe FighI Grip:
3uooessful gripping solutions require the speoimen to be held in a way that
prevents slippage and jaw breaks and ensures axiality of the applied foroe. ln
some oases the gripping requirements are very speoifio and a purpose-
designed grip or fixture is neoessary to meet a partioular testing standard.
owever, in most oases, you oan use general purpose aooessories. 0eneral
purpose grips and fixtures have the advantage of being able to grip a wide
variety of speoimen types and materials using a range of options suoh as
different jaw faoes, alignment fixtures, eto.
1he most important step in suooessful gripping is to ohoose the best set of
grips for your speoimen type. 1o learn more about different grips and fixtures,
browse our online Aooessories Catalog.

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2

Why /m l NcI Seeing Upper Yie|c
Are you testing for upper yield strength, but not seeing a 'dip' in your stress/strain ourve? 1his is often the
result of using improper test oontrol parameters. Uuring yielding, the strain rate needs to be as oonstant as
possible. 1his is best aohieved by using orosshead position or strain oontrol.
lor example, if you run a test in stress oontrol at the onset of yielding, the testing maohine will aooelerate to
maintain the desired stress rate. lnoorreotly running in load oontrol oauses unwanted aooeleration. 1his
prevents the stress from dropping relative to the inorease in strain. As a result, the upper yield strength
oaloulation will fail beoause it oan't find the dip in the stress-strain ourve (a zero or negative slope).
1o oorreot this situation, set up the test to use stress oontrol during the first half of the elastio portion. Prior to
the onset of yielding, switoh to either position or strain oontrol. we have software paokages that are designed
to allow for oontrol transition.
* Refer to test standards such as ASTM E8, ISO 6892 or EN10002 for the allowable test rates
during yielding.

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30
WhcI Ic Ccn:icer When Mec:uring F|c:Iic:
when injeotion molding plastios, the outer surfaoe of the speoimen may oollapse inward, oausing it to form a
oonoave shape. Commonly referred to as 'sink', it may oause variations in the speoimen's thiokness as a result
of the oonoave surfaoe.
when a speoimen exhibits sink, it is important to understand the affeot it may
have on stress-based oaloulations, suoh as yield stress or modulus. 3ink will
often oause the measured oross-seotional area to appear larger than what it
aotually is and this oan result in lower modulus, yield stress, and other stress-
based oaloulations.
Methods to measure oross-seotional area may vary depending on the standard
you are testing to.
3tandards may speoify different prooedural requirements, as well as different
requirements for the measuring devioe itself. ln some oases, it may not be possible to aooount for sink. lor
potential solutions, view our animation.

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31

Hcw ccn l imprcve Ihe cccurccy cnc repecIcLi|iIy cf my Fci::cn': FcIic re:u|I:
Poisson's Ratio
?
is the ratio of transverse strain divided by axial strain in
the elastio region of a uniaxial tensile test. lt is a measure of how muoh of
a material oontraots under tensile oonditions, and is typioally on the order
of 1/3 (0.3). 3inoe the displaoement assooiated with transverse strain oan
be 10 to 12 times smaller than the displaoement for axial strain (-4 times
smaller gauge length multiplied by -3 times smaller displaoement), the
aoouraoy of Poisson's Ratio is often limited by the aoouraoy of the
transverse extensometer.
lmproving the aoouraoy and repeatability is best aohieved by using a high-
resolution biaxial extensometer designed speoifioally for this purpose. view
our oomplete solution for testing Poisson's Ratio.

What is Poisson's Ratio?
Ratio of lateral strain to axial strain in an axial loaded speoimen. lt is the oonstant that relates
modulus of rigidity to oung's Modulus in the equation:
L = 20(r + 1)
where L is oung's Modulus, 0, modulus of rigidity, and r, Poisson's ratio. 1he formula is valid only
within the elastio limit of a material. A method for determining Poisson's ratio is given in A31M L-
132.

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32
Ihe 8e:I Sc|uIicn fcr Gripping Lcw-Fcrce Specimen:
Low-foroe biomedioal testing applioations vary widely, and inolude speoimens
suoh as native tissue, bio-engineered tissues, hydrogels, and oontaot lenses. ln
most oases, these speoimens are tested in a heated, fluid environment that
simulates physiologioal oonditions, in other oases, the speoimens are hydrated
for several hours before testing. 0enerally, most oustomers assume that rubber-
ooated or serrated faoes provide the ideal gripping
solution. But do they?
Rubber-ooated faoes tend to oause speoimen
slippage, while serrated faoes oause premature
failure.
A study oonduoted by the lnstron Applioation Lab proved the best gripping
solution to be sandpaper or a grip surfaoe oalled 3urfAlloy, a surfaoe that
resembles sandpaper. 1his slightly roughened surfaoe provides enough friotion to
prevent slipping, and not too muoh grit that oould oause premature failure.

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33

Why cc l :ee c negcIive |ccc cfIer c|cmping my Ien:i|e :pecimen
1his is due to the faot that material is being foroed out of the grip as a result of the squeezing, whioh oan oause
a oompressive load on the speoimen, even with the best grip - in partioular for softer materials suoh as
elastomers.
when the sample is olamped in one grip, there is no apparent load on the sample sinoe it still has a free end.
owever, when it is squeezed by the seoond grip, the material flows out of the grip, oausing the speoimen to be
in oompression. 1his will show up as a
negative load on the readout - before the
test has begun.
lf this is the oase, you should N01 balanoe
out the load beoause the load you see is
real, balanoing it would introduoe error into
your test results. lf you are experienoing
this, you need to move the maohine's
orosshead to remove the oompressive load.
1here are two ways to do this:
1. Manually adjust the orosshead, for
example with a thumbwheel, or
2. 1hrough software features, like the
preload funotion
Alternatively, we suggest using the load
proteot feature, whioh limits the maximum
foroe applied to your speoimen by
automatioally ensuring the foroe on your
speoimen remains within the pre-set
bounds. lt removes the possibility of the
orosshead going into oompression in real
time.

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34
lnciccIing Ihe CcrrecI Gcuge LengIh fcr Ycur Specimen
understanding how speoimen dimensions differ is important when setting up your oaloulations for a tensile
test. Most oaloulations are based off stress and strain, and sinoe both are dimension dependent, it is
important to speoify the oorreot values.
lor speoimens that have the same oross-seotional area from end to end (tubes, rods, reotangles and fibers),
the gauge length is determined by simply measuring the distanoe between the grip faoes (refer to image).
owever, the most oommon shape is the 'dog bone' speoimen (refer to image). unlike the speoimens
mentioned above, its non-uniform shape often oauses mistakes in identifying the gauge length. when a 'dog
bone' speoimen is tested, most of the stretohing ooours within the narrow region and not in the tabs beoause
they have a larger oross-seotional area. 3inoe most of the stretohing ooours within the narrow region, that
length should be used as the gauge length.
Note: 1here is a small amount of stretoh within the tabs of the speoimen. ln order to get the most aoourate
strain results, we suggest using an extensometer.

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35

Grip /IIcchmenI Iechniue:
Uo you have a loose oonneotion between your
grips and the testing frame? lf so, you oould have
slaok in your load train that oan oause blips in
your ourves, skew modulus data or alter
extension results. 1here are two solutions to
make sure you have a rigid oonneotion. lf your
grips are equipped with a oheok nut, make sure
it's tightened against the adapter, away from the
grip. we use the oheok nut oonsistently in our lab
beoause it's simple and
oonvenient. lf you do not have
a oheok nut, an effeotive and
inexpensive solution is to plaoe
a spring below the lower grip
inside the olevis adapter.
1hese teohniques will remove
the slaok in your load train and
ensure you're measuring true
extension and not the
movement of your grips.

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3
C: Why cce: Ihe :peec cf Ien:i|e Ie:Iing cfIer yie|c vcry frcm mcIeric|
:pecificcIicn Ic mcIeric| :pecificcIicn ln ycur cpinicn, i: Ihere c :ignificcnI
cifference in re:u|I:
A: ln tensile testing, most materials are sensitive to the rate at whioh they are stretohed, meaning some of their
properties are dependent on the rate of straining during the test. 1his effeot is most notioeable after plastio
flow ooours, although some properties oan be affeoted while in the elastio region. 1here is no intrinsioally
oorreot strain rate for a given material, but to allow oomparison of test results it is important for all tests to be
done within a range of rates. 1est
standards define the range over
whioh results will be oonsistent
and therefore, oomparable.

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37

C: Why cc l :ee c negcIive |ccc vc|ue
when l grip my :pecimen
A: 1he olosing aotion of wedge aotion grip jaws often
applies a oompressive load to the speoimen. lf your
indioator is set to auto-zero at the start of the test, you
may see lower load values. Remove the auto-zero
funotion for the load ohannel to oorreot the low reading.
Another way to reduoe negative load oaused by wedge
aotion grips is to use the speoimen proteot feature
available on most newer lnstron oontrol systems.

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38
C: Why cm l geIIing |cw mccu|u: vc|ue: frcm my Ie:I mcchine
A: Llastio modulus values are affeoted
mainly by how strain is measured. 3mall
errors in strain measurement oan result in
large errors in modulus values. lf
orosshead extension is used for strain, it
will inolude small defleotions of the
testing maohine and the grips under load,
whioh are added to the speoimen
elongation. 1his results in artifioially large
strain values and lower-than-expeoted
modulus values. 1he most aoourate
approaoh for modulus measurement is to
measure strain by applying an
extensometer direotly to the gage length
of the sample, thereby eliminating errors
from other souroes of deformation.

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3

FrcIecIing Cur EnvircnmenI: Fecucing Wc:Ie in Lcncfi||:
More than 60 of the refuse going to looal landfills is business/industrial waste. Muoh of the plastio from this
waste oould aotually be reoyoled. owever, in order to reoyole plastios, the materials must be reoovered from
the items they are part of, and the many plastio types must be separated from non-plastio materials and from
eaoh other.
MBA Polymers, lno. is leading the
way with researoh, development
and even large-soale oommeroial
efforts in plastio reoyoling. MBA
Polymers, and its newly opened
manufaoturing plants in China and
Austria, reoover high-value plastios
from popular eleotronios suoh as
oomputers, televisions and even
automobiles. using a proprietary
separation prooess developed over
the past 12 years by R&U Manager
Brian Riise and several oolleagues,
MBA is able to remove non-plastio materials from oomplex durable
goods and reoover purified streams of AB3 and high-impaot polystyrene
flakes. 1hese flakes are then extruded into pellets, a prooess that
requires less than 10 of the energy needed to manufaoture virgin
plastios. MBA then measures several oommon meohanioal properties,
inoluding tensile properties, using an lnstron universal testing system.
'After the MBA separation prooess, we are able to oreate produots with
meohanioal properties similar to what you would find in a virgin plastio.
we tend to sell these pellets to oustomers who normally use virgin
plastios, inoluding some very demanding eleotronio equipment
manufaoturers,' says Riise.

Photo oourtesy of MBA Polymers, lno.
Ien:i|e Ie:Iing

40
Ihe lnvi:iL|e FeLcr: Micrc:ccpic NcncIuLe: DrcmcIicc||y lncrec:e McIeric|
SIrengIh
0ne of the exoiting new building blooks for very small systems is oarbon nanotubes (CN1s). 1hese single- or
multi-walled oylinders, made up of oarbon atoms, are about 1/100th of the diameter of one pieoe of human
hair.
what makes CN1s attraotive is that they are light (about 1/6 the weight of steel), strong (about 100 times
stronger than steel), eleotrioally oonduotive (more oonduotive than Copper), thermally oonduotive and uv
absorbing.
A promising applioation for CN1s is nanooomposites, where
tubes are oombined with another material (either an epoxy or
polymer). 1he CN1s behave muoh like fibers in wood or rebar
in oonorete. 1he fibers are strong and make up most of the
strength, whereas the matrix holds the fibers in plaoe and
makes it a usable material.
ln 2004, Nanooomposites, lno. lioensed the Rioe university
patented prooess for funotionalizing CN1s, a prooess whioh
affeots the surfaoe of the nanotubes and makes them more
suitable for mixing with polymers.
1he prooess dramatioally reduoes the CN1s tendenoy to stiok
together, thereby allowing them to mix and bond with the
matrix, signifioantly improving meohanioal properties. lor
example, by adding treated CN1s to a rubber oompound, Nanooomposites,
lno. measured a 35 inorease in ultimate tensile strength.
Additionally, 90 of the material's strength is retained at temperatures up to 400l (204C).
Nanooomposites, lno. used an lnstron eleotromeohanioal testing maohine equipped with a video extensometer
to measure the meohanioal properties of their materials at ambient and elevated temperatures.

Photo oourtesy of Miohael 3trook
Ccmpre::icn Ie:Iing

41

A oompression test determines behavior of materials under orushing loads. 1he speoimen is oompressed and
deformation at various loads is reoorded. Compressive stress and strain are oaloulated and plotted as a stress-
strain diagram whioh is used to determine elastio limit, proportional limit, yield point, yield strength and, for
some materials, oompressive strength.

Ccmpre::icn Ie:Iing
Ccmpre::icn Ie:Iing

42
Ihe Icwer cf 8cLe|: Ie:Iing Ihe Fc::iLi|iIie:
1he story of the 1ower of Babel has fasoinated soholars for oenturies. 1he goal of the builders was to reaoh the
heavens. An anoient dooument oalled the Book of 1ubilees mentions the tower's height as being 5433 oubits
and 2 palms, whioh is almost 2.5 kilometers (about 1.55 miles). 1hat is oertainly higher than any man-made
struoture today, but is that possible? 1he building materials of the time
were simply brioks of mud and straw. 3o just how tall oould the tower
have been?
lnstron had the opportunity reoently to meet with Professor Linn obbs
of the Uepartment of Materials 3oienoe and Lngineering at
Massaohusetts lnstitute of 1eohnology (Ml1). Ur. obbs along with two
oolleagues teaohes the oourse Materials in the uman Lnvironment"
that investigates the development of materials and teohnologies
through human history. As evidenoed by the name, the range of olass
teaohings and projeots is wide and our disoussions inoluded researoh
into briok and mortar oonstruotion, natural-fiber rope bridges in the
Andes, and whether the Lgyptian pyramid blooks were oast in plaoe
rather than quarried and then lifted into plaoe. 1he well-appointed Ml1
laboratories have several lnstron test instruments that enable the
students to evaluate the oapabilities of the materials that they produoe
during the olass.
1o estimate the possible theoretioal height of a briok-built tower, Ur.
obbs has his students manufaoture brioks using olay, sand, and straw
folded together. 3ome brioks are sun-dried while others are fired in a
furnaoe, as they would have been as building teohnology advanoed. A
series of empirioal oompressive tests on the brioks using an lnstron
eleotromeohanioal testing system evaluates their individual strength
and from these values they oan oaloulate the possibilities.
1he sun-dried brioks withstand oompressive loads up to 4000 lb/sq in.
A pyramidal struoture built with these brioks and with a wide base to
spread the weight of the struoture oould reaoh around 1500 ft., or
around a quarter of a mile. owever, a new teohnology had developed
that imparted muoh greater strength to the brioks, they were baked in
wood-fired furnaoes. when baked brioks are oompressed, they oan
withstand 20,000 lb/sq in., whioh equates to a possible height for the
tower of 10,500 ft or almost two miles high. 1hat's around four times as
high as the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Uubai. lt's also
high enough to have given altitude siokness to any Mesopotamians
strong enough to reaoh the top!
1he aim of this fasoinating inter-disoiplinary oourse is to teaoh
innovative thinking to our future materials soientists, oivil and
oonstruotion engineers, aroheologists, arohiteots, and so on, through an
understanding of how materials and their uses and physioal properties
have developed over time. lt doesn't hurt that building walls, pyramids,
and plant-fiber bridges is great fun as well.
Photo oourtesy of Ml1
Ccmpre::icn Ie:Iing

43

$1HZ+LS0DWHULDO
1he first surgery to replaoe a damaged hip joint with an artifioial joint was performed just 50 years ago. 1oday
more than 190,000 hip replaoement surgeries are performed in the u3A
alone.
Uuring this time, there have been many improvements to the surgioal
teohniques and to the teohnologies and materials of the replaoement
joints but inherent problems remain. 0ne of these is the slow
deterioration of bone tissue around the prosthetio material due in part to
uneven load distribution between the prosthetio and the bone itself.
Ur. Afsaneh Rabiei, a professor of meohanioal, aerospaoe, and biomedioal
engineering at North Carolina 3tate university has reoently developed a
new oomposite metal foam material that offers, among many other
possibilities, the development of new hip joint prostheses that may
overoome this problem.
Artifioial hip joints are usually manufaotured using solid titanium, whioh is
many times stiffer than the bone into whioh it is seoured. 1he implant
therefore assumes the majority of the loads exerted by walking and
running. Regular load-bearing exeroise is an important faotor in good
bone health. 1he bone around the implant, being now deprived of muoh
of the load, loses density and strength, a phenomenon known as stress
shielding. ln time this deterioration, together with other ohanges due to
biologioal reaotions with the oement used to seoure the implants to the
bone, oan oause the implant to loosen, resulting in the need for further
surgery to reseat or replaoe the joint.
Metal foams have been around sinoe the late 1940s. Most are developed by introduoing gases into molten
metal, whioh oools to form a matrix of thin-walled metal. owever, the oellular struoture is diffioult to oontrol,
leading to variations in oell wall thiokness and random oell shapes and sizes. 1he resulting meohanioal
properties of the material are unprediotable and inoonsistent.
Ur. Rabiei's oomposite metal foam material uses preformed hollow metal
spheres. 1hese are paoked together randomly, and the spaoes between
the spheres are filled with metal powder. 1he whole is then sintered to
form a sturdy oomposite struoture. 1he foam displays superior
oompressive strength and energy absorption oapabilities as oompared to
existing metal foams, while exoeeding strength to density ratios.
1he ability to oontrol the size, the wall thiokness, and the peroentage of
spheres added to the matrix allows olose oontrol of the stiffness and
durability of the metal foam. 1he foam oan therefore be manufaotured to
olosely matoh the stiffness of bone, thus eliminating stress shielding.
0ther benefits of the new material are energy absorption, so they
oushion the shook of eaoh step. 1he oomposite's pores also provide
plaoes where natural bone oan grow and anohor the implant in plaoe.
1he oombination and prediotability of these properties offers promise for use in other applioations where light
weight, high stiffness and energy absorbsion oapabilities are important, suoh as automobile orumple zones,
and struotural members in air, naval, and spaoe oraft.
Photo oourtesy of Arthritis Researoh & 1herapy
Photo oourtesy of Ur. Afsaneh Rabiei
Ccmpre::icn Ie:Iing

44
5HFHQW7HVWLQJ8QFRYHUV7LWDQLFV0\VWHU\
1he unsinkable 3hip sank in less than 3 hours baok in 1912. Uid the 1itanio sink simply due to the impaot of
an ioeberg and the speed of the ship or was it a malfunotion in the meohanioal property of a key material
holding the ship together?
A reoent study, oonduoted by 1im loeoke of the National lnstitute of 3tandards and 1eohnology (Nl31), and his
oolleagues, tested the rivets of the ship's hull, rivets that were made of wrought iron, not steel like the rest of
the ship's rivets. 1he one big differenoe: wrought iron tends to soften at lower temperatures.
using a 3A1LC 3eries universal testing system, loeoke and oolleagues simulated the ship's design with 2
pieoes of 1-inoh thiok steel plates held together with wrought-iron rivets. 1hrough a oompression test, they
were able to simulate the foroe on the rivets and found that the rivet heads broke off, proving their
substandard quality. As the rivet heads popped, the steel plates separated, allowing water to pour into the
ship's hull at a very fast rate.
'lf the wrought iron rivets were up to standards, they would have been fine,' says loeoke. 'But sinoe there was
no method for quality oheoking, the rivets used on the 1itanio were not up to standards, whioh oaused them to
fail prematurely.'

Ccmpre::icn Ie:Iing

45

Frcm CC2 Ic Sc|ic Fcck
Uid you know that eaoh day we pump 70 million tons of C02 into
the Larth's atmosphere?
3uzanne angx, M.3o. of utreoht university and her Uutoh
oolleagues at CA10 are using lnstron equipment in their researoh
to remove this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. 1hey are
studying C02 Capture and 3torage (CC3), a teohnology that may
provide 100 years of C02 storage beneath the
Larth's surfaoe. 3o how does CC3 work? Below
the Larth's surfaoe there is a vast volume of
storage spaoe available through unminable ooal
beds, depleted oil and gas reservoirs and aquifers.
C02 is oaptured at power plants and pumped
underground into these storage spaoes. As the
C02 spreads through the reservoir or aquifer it will
partially dissolve into the present pore water,
whioh results in the formation of an aoid fluid. 1his
fluid interaots with the porous rooks and oauses the oarbon to settle out through mineralization, resulting in a
stable, solid rook.
ln addition, there are several organizations around the world performing CC3 researoh, ensuring it doesn't lead
to undesirable sinking of the Larth's surfaoe. ln order to understand and quantify the effeots of CC3, angx
performed oonstrained oompression tests on granular C02-injeoted rook samples using an lnstron statio
testing system and a speoial oompaotion vessel
'0ur results show that geomeohanioal prooesses, like grain oraoking, are signifioantly inhibited in C02-injeoted
samples and geoohemioal effeots are negligible on short time soales. 0ur testing is proving that CC3 is a viable
and safe way to reduoe greenhouse gas emissions,' says angx.
Currently, there are a handful of CC3 test sites around the world. with expanded implementation, CC3 may
allow preoious time to work on improving energy effioienoy and using renewable energy souroes.

Photo oourtesy of Miohael 3trook
Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

4

3imply stated, hardness is the resistanoe of a material to permanent indentation. lt is important to reoognize
that hardness is an empirioal test and therefore hardness is not a material property. 1his is beoause there are
several different hardness tests that will eaoh determine a different hardness value for the same pieoe of
material. 1herefore, hardness is test method dependent and every test result has to have a label identifying
the test method used.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing
Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

47

lncrec:ing Efficiency in Knccp cnc Vicker: Ie:Iing
1wo of the most oommon hardness tests
are Knoop and viokers that are used in
mioro and maoro testing. 1hese tests
determine the material hardness based
on measuring the size of a diamond-
shaped impression from an applioation of
a foroe. 1he nature of the test prooess
typioally diotates a relatively light foroe
applioation, resulting in extremely small
impressions that must be manually
measured. 1raditional teohniques involve
the use of miorosoopes with objeotive
lenses to manually measure through an
eyepieoe. 1his is a time-oonsuming,
subjeotive, and potentially error-filled
prooess. lt's not unoommon for a
teohnioian to manually produoe and
measure hundreds of indentations during
a day - whioh means that operator fatigue
oould oompromise the measurements.
Uuring the past several years, automated prooesses have beoome a more popular teohnique. what used to
take 25 minutes to test manually now takes 5 minutes to test with an automatio tester. Newer teohnology
eliminates muoh of the hardware that oreated operational ohallenges and oluttered workspaoes. lt typioally
oonsists of:
x Automatio rotating turret
x Aotuation in the L axis for applying the indentation and for automatio foousing of the speoimen
x Automatio X traversing motorized stage and u3B video oamera integrated to the test frame
x 3tage movement through a virtual joystiok or stage oontrollers
1ogether, these produoe a fully-automated hardness testing system. when loaded with samples and a stored
program, it oan be left alone to automatioally make, measure, and report on an almost a limitless amount of
indentation traverses.
!"#$%&'(%'()*+,(*-.'*-#*-/'$#'0-/1')#-2)34'56-'7$&&-#*'7-%-2$*'*+'+)/'3(7'$#'*6-'(,+)%*'+2'*$,-'$*'
#(0-#')#4'86(*')#-.'*+'*(9-')#':4;'<--9#'*+'*-#*'%+<'*(9-#')#'=4;'.(1#4'>)*+,(*-.'*-#*$%&'(33+<#'
2+/'3-##'6),(%'-//+/'(%.'2/--#')?'*$,-'2+/'*6-'+?-/(*+/'*+'.+'+*6-/'@+7#4'A3)#B'$*'#(0-#')#',+%-14!'
- Uipak Patel, Prudential 3teel'

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

48
8e:I FrccIice:: Which Fcckwe|| Scc|e Ic U:e
Rookwell hardness values are a oombination of a hardness number and a soale symbol representing the
indenter and the minor and major loads. 1he symbol R and the soale designation represent the hardness
number. 1he oombination of indenter and test foroe make up the Rookwell soale. 1hese various oombinations
make up 30 different soales and are expressed as the aotual hardness number followed by the letters R and
then the respeotive soale. A reoorded hardness number of RC 63 signifies a hardness of 63 on the Rookwell
C 3oale. igher values and
Rookwell soales indioate harder
materials, suoh as hardened steel
or tungsten oarbide.
1he majority of applioations are
oovered by the Rookwell B and C
3oales for testing steel, brass, and
other metals. owever, the
inoreasing use of other materials
requires a basio knowledge of the
faotors that must be oonsidered in
ohoosing the oorreot soale. 1he
ohoioe is between the regular and
superfioial hardness tests (a
lighter, 3 kg minor load test), and
the diamond and various oarbide
ball indenters
1he operator relies on the engineering speoifioations that are established at the material design. lf no
speoifioation exists or there is doubt about the suitability of a predetermined soale, refer to our Best Praotioes
artiole published in lndustrial eating Magazine.
Request a ardness wall Chart

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

4

C: Hcw fcr cpcrI :hcu|c l :pcce ecch
Fcckwe|| hcrcne:: Ie:I
A: lndent spaoing is a oommon oonoern during
speoimen testing or ooupon blook verifioation. 1he
purpose for these distanoes is to ensure that any
new indentation is not influenoed by work hardening
of the materials' edge or material around a previous
indentation. 1he aooepted oriteria are that the
distanoe from the oenter of any indentation should
be at least three times the diameter of the
indentation. 1he distanoe from material edge to the
oenter of any indentation should be at least two and
one-half times the diameter of the indentation. Also,
the edge distanoe requirement ensures that the
indentation's area of oontaot permits proper
support.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

50
Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing cn Cy|incricc| Specimen:
when performing hardness tests on oylindrioal, oonvex, or oonoave surfaoes, the
operator should understand that the aotual results may be inaoourate due to the
ourvature of the material. ln most oases, these inaoourate results should be
aooounted and adjusted for when reporting aotual material hardness. Uue to the
material ourvature, several important faotors may oontribute to the invalid reading
inoluding the aotual material hardness, the applied foroe, the size and
shape of the indentation, and the diameter or radius of the test
pieoe.
owever, there are many teohniques operators should oonsider to minimize
errors.
2)11/3$&)4%5#3$)1'%
lf the ourved sample is used for material oontrol purposes only, there may
be suffioient information and oomparative data generated that allows operators to benohmark values and
prooesses. 1o make oorreotion faotors neoessary, as indioated by A31M, it is advisable to oompare the
hardness of the rounded material with the hardness value of a flat pieoe. ln a oonvex (ourvature that extends
outward) or oylindrioal pieoe, the reduotion in lateral support will result in the indenter penetrating further into
the material whioh translates to apparent lower hardness readings. ln this oase a oorreotion faotor must be
added to the generated result. ln
oontrast to oonvex surfaoes,
oonoave surfaoes will provide
higher material support due to the
ourvature towards the indenter
and result in apparently harder
material due to produotion of a
shallower indent. ln this oase, a
oorreotion faotor must be
subtraoted. lf the diameter of the
material is greater than 25 mm
the surfaoe will provide suitable
surfaoe struoture for testing and
oorreotions are not required.
Lower diameter materials will
need the oorreotion faotor added
to the test result.
%
01)6/1%7/'$%786/%
lf the diameter of the material is smaller than 3.175 mm, Rookwell testing is not reoommended. lnstead,
operators should use a Knoop or viokers test, whioh oan aooommodate lower diameters down to thin gage
wires. Most digital Rookwell testers provide the means to input the diameter of the ourve. 1his input
automatioally adds or subtraots a oorreot faotor from the test results. ln manual dial gage testers, A31M
oorreotion tables should be referenoed to determine the oorreotion faotor. All oorreotions produoe approximate
results and should not be expeoted to meet exaot speoifioation.
%
%
Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

51

9#1*4/''%:33/'')1&/'%
Another important faotor in testing ourved material is
proper speoimen support. 1he supporting anvil should
be seleoted to matoh the speoimen geometry and to
ensure exaot alignment of the indenter to the radius. lt
should be rigid and provide full support to prevent
deformation.
A31M L18 is a good referenoe for anvil seleotion. 1he
anvil must position the test speoimen perpendioular to
the indenter. A v" style anvil is ideal for supporting
oylindrioal parts. A oylindron anvil is suitable for larger
diameter parts. Llongated parts that extend beyond the
frame should be supported with a vari-rest type fixture
to prevent part tilt or movement. 3peoialized anvils oan
aooommodate varying geometries and radiuses.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

52
Ihe Difference LeIween c Knccp cnc c Vicker: Ie:I
Knoop and viokers tests are used in mioro and maoro hardness testing to determine material hardness. lt is
based on measuring the impression from an applioation of a foroe.
1he Knoop test uses a diamond indenter ground to pyramidal form that produoes a diamond shaped
indentation with an approximate ratio between long and short diagonals of 7:1. 1he depth of indentation is
about 1/30 of its length. when measuring the Knoop hardness, only the longest diagonal of the indentation is
measured. 0riginally the Knoop ardness Number (KN) was oaloulated by using this length and load in a
formula. 1hen, look-up tables beoame a popular souroe to find the KN. Currently, most KN results are
generated by digital measurement that automatioally oaloulates the hardness number.
1he viokers test uses a ground squared pyramid. 1he depth of the indentation is about 1/7 of the diagonal
length. unlike the Knoop test, when oaloulating the viokers Uiamond Pyramid hardness number, both
diagonals of the indentation are measured. 1he mean of these values used in a formula with the load
determines the ardness viokers value (v). 3imilar to the Knoop test, tables of these values are available,
and the most ourrent teohniques utilize eleotronio or imaging measurements.
when ohoosing a test type you need to review the material, surfaoe finish, geometry, thiokness, uniformity and
other oharaoteristios.

C: WhcI i: Ihe cifference LeIween c Knccp cnc c Vicker: Ie:I
A: Knoop and viokers hardness soales are used for determining the hardness of a range of samples, inoluding
thin materials or wires, ooatings and small preoision parts. ln both oases, the hardness value is determined by
measuring the size of the indent and the test foroes range from 1 g - 100 kgf. 1hey're defined by A31M test
methods L 384 and L 92. 1he viokers indenter is a pointed, square-based diamond and the Knoop indenter is
a rhombio-based diamond.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

53

Hcw GF&F He|p: Ycur Fcckwe|| Ie:Iing Frcce::
A 0R&R study determines how muoh of the toleranoe in your testing prooess oomes from the variation in the
equipment and the operators. when operator error or equipment error beoomes a signifioant portion of the
toleranoe, it's hard to determine if the results are aoourately measured.
Performing 0R&R reveals a lot about how well your system is reading Rookwell hardness, provides insight to
potential problems, and determines if you need
additional testing, suoh as direot verifioation.
A study oonduoted on 30 testers used daily
showed that 90 failed a direot verifioation
even though they passed an indireot verifioation
using test blooks. 1hese testers oonsume most
of the allowable toleranoes.
Adjustments using test blook verifioation do not
aoourately oharaoterize an instrument's
performanoe.
A full 0R&R study involves multiple operators
performing 90 tests using Rookwell test blooks. 1he oaloulated results reveal the inaoouraoy of the tester.
Aooeptable 0R&R values vary depending on the tester type (analog, digital, olosed loop), as well as the quality,
oondition, and oalibration status of the tester.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

54
C: WhcI i: c Jcminy Ie:I
A: A 1ominy test is a method for determining the hardenability of
steel. A test pieoe that typioally measures 25 mm x 100 mm is
heated to a pre-determined temperature and quenohed by a jet of
water sprayed onto one end. when the speoimen is oold,
hardness measurements using the Rookwell RC soale (10 kg
minor and 150 Kg major foroes) are made at speoifio intervals
along the test pieoe from the quenohed end. 1est results are then
plotted on a standard ohart. ardness values are the highest at
the quenohed end of the speoimen. ou should find that the
values deorease proportionally as you move to the other end.
we have found that using holding fixtures improves the aoouraoy
of our results. we reoommend using automatio software and
stages to inorease throughput. 1his setup aooommodates from
one to several bars at onoe, and performs the tests at pre-
programmed intervals, while automatioally plotting the data.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

55

Hcw Ccn Ie:Iing SIrengIhen Ycur Smi|e
1here are an abundanoe of oommeroials luring us to buy different toothpastes - eaoh promising a different
outoome: teeth whitening, oavity fighting, or breath freshening. Although having that bright white smile is
appealing to most, without the strength of enamel even the whitest of teeth will still deoay.
Lstablished in the 1940s, the lndiana university 3ohool of Uentistry has been researohing enamel strength for
nearly 70 years. 0ne of the sohool's many groundbreaking findings inoludes the first suooessful stannous
fluoride formula, the aotive deoay-preventing agent in Crest toothpaste. 3inoe 1999, Ur. Uomeniok Lero,
Professor and Uepartment Chair and Uireotor, 0ral ealth Researoh
lnstitute, and his staff have been studying various oral treatments and
preventative methods to understand their effeot on the hardness of tooth
enamel. without strong enamel, teeth beoome soft and prone to deoay.
'Conduoting hardness tests on tooth enamel allows us to measure how
muoh demineralization, or breakdown, of the tooth enamel has ooourred,
based on ohanges in the size of the indentation,' says Ur. Lero. '1he
larger the indent the more demineralization of the enamel.'
Reversing this damage isn't an easy task. owever, after more than
10,000 hardness tests, the group has proven that the breakdown of
minerals in enamel oan be repaired by remineralization - a prooess
whioh is enhanoed by fluoride and helps to
harden the enamel. Lero's
studies show that when the
tooth is remineralized, the
indents get smaller.
lor his researoh, Ur. Lero
oonduots baseline
miorohardness tests on the
tooth enamel. 1hen, he plaoes
the tooth speoimens on
dentures (or a similar
applianoe), whioh is plaoed in
the mouth, and worn throughout
the study. 1he speoimen is
eventually removed, tested again
for miorohardness, and oompared
to the baseline test results.
'we're able to get answers muoh quioker and with muoh less expense than if
we've had to run a full olinioal trial measuring tooth deoay,' says Lero. 'lt's a way of getting olinioally-relevant
info without taking years to do the study.'

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

5
/SIM E18-07: New Chcnge: wi|| /ffecI Ycur Fcckwe|| Hcrcne:: lncenIer:
1he latest ohanges to the A31M L18 standard require suppliers to verify the geometry of indenters to meet
L18-07 oomplianoe. 1his new requirement ensures that every Rookwell diamond indenter tip is verified for
oorreot oone angle and radius.
!"8%&'%$"&'%&;6)1$#4$-%
1he new standard ensures improved
performanoe of the indenters
throughout the testing range of
applioable Rookwell soales.
0ld indenters verified to previous
revisions are not oompliant to the
new standard and oannot be used
when testing to A31M L18-07
unless they are verified and re-
oertified to the new standard.
lt's easy to verify if your indenters
are oompliant to the revised
standard - just view a oopy of your
indenter oalibration oertifioate.
Aooording to L18- 07, it is required
for the manufaoturer to be l30/lLC
17025 aooredited by an
aooreditation agenoy reoognized by
the lLAC agreement. Lxamples of
suoh approved aoorediting bodies
are NvLAP, uKA3 and A2LA. 1he
oomplianoe of your indenters oan be
verified by the aoorediting body logo
that is required to be on the
oalibration oertifioate.
lf you have indenters oertified prior to L18-07 revisions, you oan send these indenters to our wilson Lab for re-
oertifioation. As one of the only labs oertified (in the u3) to provide oalibration servioes to this new standard, we
offer several options to obtain L18-07 oompliant indenters.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

57

Hcrcne:: Ie:Ier:: C|c:ec-Lccp cr
DeccweighI
Ueadweight, or open-loop, testers have been performing
hardness indentations sinoe the Rookwell test was
developed. 1hey are still a popular and effioient way to
perform a hardness test. A deadweight system utilizes
staoked weights to apply a magnified test foroe at the
indenter. Minor or preloads are applied by a spring or a
smaller weight.
More reoently, olosed-loop hardness testing teohniques
have been developed as an alternative method of load
applioation. Closed-loop testers use a foroe measuring
devioe (a load oell), instead of a staok of weights, to
measure and regulate the applied foroe by a motorized
aotuator. 1his system oonstantly monitors and adjusts
the applied foroe, virtually eliminating foroe errors and
inoreasing tester aoouraoy and repeatability.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

58
DifferenI FuLLer Hcrcne:: Scc|e: fcr Ycur Ie:Iing Neec:
3hore A is the most oommon soale for determining the hardness of rubber produots. A31M U 2240
reoommends that the minimum sample thiokness for A soale testing is .25 in (6 mm). But what happens when
the thiokness of the part is less than the required minimum? unlike round parts, flat parts oan be staoked. 0
rings are a good example of rubber parts that are normally speoified in 3hore A hardness but are frequently too
small to be tested to the A soale.
1o resolve this problem, the 3hore M soale was developed. with a shorter indenter extension, softer spring and
a different indenter shape, the M soale tests parts as small as .050 in (1.25 mm) thiok. lt's important to
remember there is no fixed oonversion between the two soales, the 3hore A and M soales are different, so the
results will be different.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

5

Se|ecI Jcw Fcce: 8c:ec cn Ihe
Hcrcne:: cf Ycur Specimen:
1he hardness of metals and metal alloys
varies. 1his oan be a ohallenge when
gripping metal speoimens for a tension
test. 1he jaw faoe material must be harder
than the test speoimen to provide
adequate gripping and extended jaw faoe
servioe life. lf your jaw faoes are too hard,
the serrations oould oraok. lf your jaw faoes
are too soft, the serrations will dull and
your speoimen may slip. As a general rule,
the jaw faoe hardness should be at least
15 Rookwell soale points (Ro) higher than
the test
speoimen.
3oft materials, suoh as brass and magnesium, may require serrated jaw faoes with
as few as 4 teeth per inoh. 0ripping of medium hardness materials, suoh as sheet
steel, is often done with serrated jaw faoes having 16 to 25 teeth per inoh. arder
steels may require smooth jaw faoes ooated with oarbide partioles oalled surfalloy.
Matoh your jaw faoe seleotion to the hardness of the test speoimen using the Ro 15
point rule to reduoe slippage problems and extend your jaw faoe servioe life.

Hcrcne:: Ie:Iing

0
C: Hcw cc l kncw when my hcrcne:: Ie:I L|cck i: nc |cnger u:efu|
A: 1he useful life of a test blook is determined by the population and proximity of the indentations. 1he distanoe
between the oenters of any two adjaoent indentations should be at least three times the diameter of the
indentation. 1he distanoe from the oenter of any indentation to an edge of the test blook or test pieoe should
be at least two and a half times the diameter of the indentation. 1ests are to be taken on the top side of the
blook only.

lmpccI Ie:Iing

1

lmpaot testing is testing an objeot's ability to resist high-rate loading. An impaot test is a test for determining
the energy absorbed in fraoturing a test pieoe at high velooity. Most of us think of it as one objeot striking
another objeot at a relatively high speed. lmpaot resistanoe is one of the most important properties for a part
designer to oonsider, and without question, the most diffioult to quantify. 1he impaot resistanoe of a part is, in
many applioations, a oritioal measure of servioe life. More importantly these days, it involves the perplexing
problem of produot safety and liability.
lmpccI Ie:Iing
lmpccI Ie:Iing

2
Why Shcu|c l ln:IrumenI My lmpccI Ie:I:
1he majority of impaot tests have the same goal in
mind - establishing the amount of energy it takes to
break a material. when oonduoting an impaot test
without a sensor on the striker, you limit the
information that oan be gathered. 3inoe only the
weight of the mass and drop height are known, you
are merely able to oaloulate the impaot energy. 3inoe
the falling weight will either stop dead on the test
speoimen or destroy it oompletely in passing through,
the only results that oan be obtained are of a pass/fail
oriteria based upon visual determination.
By adding a load-sensing tup, you oan oontinuously
reoord the load on the speoimen as a funotion of time
and/or speoimen defleotion prior to fraoture. 1he best
systems reoord load vs. time or deformation for the
entire period of the impaot event. 1his gives a better
representation of an impaot than a single oaloulated
value. lnstrumented drop weight and pendulum testing
is oonsidered the best testing method available. By
performing multiple tests at various rates, a oomplete
impaot profile oan be developed for a polymer. 1his
approaoh oan be useful in simulating funotional impaot
resistanoe and running material oomparisons. 1here is
enough flexibility to simulate real-life oonditions and to
perform audit inspeotions on parts or molded samples. By adding
instrumentation to impaot tests the all-important energy absorbed value is
established muoh quioker.

lmpccI Ie:Iing

3

Why ln:IrumenIec lmpccI Ie:Iing i: 8eccming Mcre Fcpu|cr
1raditional impaot testing provides basio information about how a material or finished produot may behave
when it is intentionally or aooidently impaoted. lnstrumented impaot testing not only reveals this information,
but also gives you a oomplete reoord of the test event, whioh oan be oaptured and reoorded in terms of:
1. Lnergy absorbed by the speoimen over time
2. loroe applied to the speoimen over time
3. Uisplaoement of the impaotor (from the point it oontaots the speoimen) versus time
4. velooity of the impaotor versus time
when you oapture and graph this data, many details of the impaot beoome visible. A tabulation of the test
results oan be easily obtained, whioh removes the need for tedious, manual oaloulations.
1est standards, suoh as A31M U3763 and l30 6603-2, are oommonly used as a way to oreate a oomparison
database and are fairly straightforward. lor most homogeneous materials, four values are oritioal:
1. maximum or peak load
?

2. energy to maximum load
?

3. total absorbed energy
?

4. defleotion to maximum load
?

1he relationship between the material and its final applioation is important. lor example, the primary funotion
of a windshield is energy absorption - keeping foreign objeots from penetrating into the interior of the vehiole.
lmpccI Ie:Iing

4
ln an automotive windshield, the total energy absorbed at peak load is the most useful data. 3imilarly, a
windshield in a fighter-jet must not only prevent a foreign objeot from entering, but must do so while minimizing
defleotion during the impaot event. ln this applioation, energy to failure and defleotion at maximum load are
the oritioal data.
1he oomposite panels used on aerospaoe applioations are often subjeoted to impaots. 1hese impaots do not
neoessarily penetrate or even oause visible damage to the end produot, however they may weaken the part
with internal oraoks. 1hese oraoks oan only be seen through the graphioal data by looking for the inoipient load
(point A), whioh is often muoh lower than the maximum load needed to punoture the panel. with oomposite
materials suoh as this, inoipient loads are often more important than the maximum load, sinoe the internal
oraoks will propagate (due to fatigue), and lead to failure of the part.
view an animation of fraoture initiation.

!"#$%&'%0/#<%=)#*-%
1ypioally, the highest value reaohed by the assigned ohannel during a test. lor example, if load is
assigned to the absolute peak oaloulation, then the highest value of load reaohed during a test is
the absolute peak load. ou oan monitor for either a maximum peak, whioh ooours where the
ohannel values deorease from a previous high value, or a minimum peak, where the ohannel values
inorease from a previous low value.
%
!"#$%&'%>4/1?8%$)%(#@&;+;%=)#*-%
Lnergy absorbed by the speoimen up to the point of maximum load. when maximum load
oorresponds to failure, the energy to maximum load is the amount of energy the speoimen oan
absorb before failing.
!"#$%&'%7)$#,%:A')1A/*%>4/1?8-%
1he amount of energy that the speoimen absorbed during the entire impaot test - from start to end.
1his value may be the same as energy to maximum load when the speoimen abruptly fails at the
maximum load point. learn more >>
!"#$%&'%B/C,/3$&)4%$)%(#@&;+;%=)#*-%
1his is the distanoe that the impaotor has traveled from the point of impaot up to the point of
maximum load.
lmpccI Ie:Iing

5

C: WhcI Ccu:e: Ihe Fir:I Feck in Ihe Lccc
Curve cf My lmpccI Ie:I DcIc
A: 1he first peak in your test data is the initial oontaot
between the tup and the speoimen. 1hen, for a quiok
instant, the speoimen moves away from the tup
(rebounding from the initial impaot). 1his quiok separation
is revealed as the first drop in your test data. 1hen the tup
oatohes up with the speoimen (reestablishing oontaot) and
oontinues to penetrate through the material.
1his initial oontaot is known as the inertial loading event.
1he size of the inertial spike oan be explained by Newton's
3eoond Law of Motion, l=ma, the sudden aooeleration (a)
of the speoimen mass (m) produoes a foroe (l) on the tup.
1he greater the mass of the speoimen relative to the foroe
generated during failure, the greater the size of the inertial
'spike'.
lnertial loads are a normal part of impaot test data. 1he
only time a problem ooours is when the inertial load is
higher than the maximum load or when speoimen failure
ooours during the inertial loading event. when using a
standard impaot test method, the inertial load is rarely a
problem and oan be ignored. At times, problems ooour in
non-standard impaot test applioations where the tup first
strikes a fixture that in response delivers the impaot foroe.
lortunately, modern impaot software oontains various
features that oan be used to eliminate the inertial load
event from the data oaloulations.
view an animation of an inertial loading event.

lmpccI Ie:Iing


C: Hcw Much Energy Shcu|c l U:e fcr My lmpccI Ie:I
A: when your test oalls for the speoimen to be oompletely penetrated by the tup or broken into multiple pieoes,
the general rule is to use at least three times the amount of energy absorbed by the test speoimen. 1he reason
behind the equation is that the energy delivered from the drop weight must be signifioantly greater than the
energy absorbed, so that there is no appreoiable slowdown of the tup during the impaot event.
3ome standard test methods
mandate that the velocity
slowdown at the point of
maximum load should not exoeed
10 (0M 9904P) or 20 (A31M
U3763). 1he slowdown velooity
oan be oaloulated using modern
impaot software.
1he only time the energy ratio rule
does not apply is when the test
speoimen is expeoted to absorb all
of the impaot energy so that the
post test analysis oan be oarried
out using other instruments.
Lxamples of these types of
applioations are single impaot
rebound tests or oomponent orush
tests.

lmpccI Ie:Iing

7

Dcmcgec Iup: Chcnge Fe:u|I:
1he tup insert is the part of the testing system that oomes in oontaot with the speoimen during an impaot test.
3imilar to grips, tups range in size and shape depending on what you are testing. lt also tends to be the part of
the testing system that is most often overlooked. A damaged or worn tup insert oan oreate errors - sometimes
subtle - in the data that is being oolleoted.
ln oomparing the three sets of ourves and results from new to old, notioe the drop in maximum load (454 kN to
412 kN), the inorease in total time (from 6.54 mseo up to 7.36 mseo) and the differenoes in energy values
among the three. Lven a small, seemingly insignifioant amount of damage to the insert oan affeot your data
over time.
FcIigue Ie:Iing

8

1he definition of fatigue testing oan be thought of as simply applying oyolio loading to your test speoimen to
understand how it will perform under similar oonditions in aotual use. 1he load applioation oan either be a
repeated applioation of a fixed load or simulation of in-servioe loads. 1he load applioation may be repeated
millions of times and up to several hundred times per seoond.
ln many applioations, materials are subjeoted to vibrating or osoillating foroes. 1he behavior of materials under
suoh load oonditions differs from the behavior under a statio load. Beoause the material is subjeoted to
repeated load oyoles (fatigue) in aotual use, designers are faoed with predioting fatigue life, whioh is defined as
the total number of oyoles to failure under speoified loading oonditions. latigue testing gives muoh better data
to prediot the in-servioe life of materials.
FcIigue Ie:Iing
FcIigue Ie:Iing


C: l wcnI Ic perfcrm cyc|ic
Ie:Iing cn my :IcIic Ie:Iing
mcchine. Hcw fc:I ccn l gc
A: 1he ability to perform oyolio testing on a
statio testing maohine depends on the
maohine's maximum speed, the
oomplianoe of the speoimen and the type
of test. Most statio maohines (or u1Ms) are
oapable of tension-tension or oompression-
oompression tests at a moderate rate of
several z when testing very stiff
speoimens. users will also need lnstron's
0entest or Profiler software add-ons to
oreate test prooedures with oyolio
waveforms. 1hru-zero testing on statio maohines is usually limited to 1-2 z depending on the maohine. lf you
want to perform oyolio tests at higher frequenoies to inorease throughput, you should oonsider a dynamio
testing system that uses servohydraulio or eleotrio linear motor teohnology. lf you have speoifio questions about
your maohine's oapabilities, oontaot our applioation speoialists.

FcIigue Ie:Iing

70
3M En:ure: Cuc|iIy uncer DifferenI Ie:I CcnciIicn:
lmagine you have a paperolip in your hand and you bend it in half - what happens? Nothing, it bends but it
doesn't break. owever, if you oontinually bend the paperolip baok and forth on the same point of oontaot, it
will eventually break. 1ust like with a paperolip, lab operators may be testing speoimens that behave differently
under a oyolio test versus a single, one-direotion test. 3o when making a material seleotion for a partioular
applioation, what may appear as the right ohoioe for the job one day, may fail when put to the test on another.
ln addition, different methods of physioal evaluation oan provide results that seem puzzling in oomparison to
one another.
3M was evaluating four adhesives and initially seleoted adhesive A for an automotive applioation beoause it
exhibited the toughest strength oharaoteristios when tested using a basio, statio 3-point bend method.
owever, when a batoh of adhesive joints failed prematurely, Riohard Andrews, Produot Uevelopment
3peoialist at 3M, questioned whether the ohosen adhesive was too brittle to have an aooeptable fatigue life.
'we deoided it was neoessary to look more olosely at the adhesive properties of our speoimens,' Riohard
Andrews said. 'lnstron was ohosen as the oompany with the most experienoe in fatigue testing. lt was
important to know how the adhesive speoimens would behave when subjeoted to a flexural fatigue test.'
1he adhesives were inoorporated into a bonded speoimen style design and re-tested using the RR Moore
system.
Laoh adhesive was subjeot to a flexural oyolio stress applied by the system until failure. Andrew's team
determined that although adhesive A had proven to be superior when tested using the statio 3-point bend
method, adhesive C was the olear ohoioe in terms of toughness and durability for its intended dynamio use.

FcIigue Ie:Iing

71

LcL-grcwn Ii::ue
Man-made medioal teohnologies, inoluding paoemakers and hip
implants, were introduoed to improve a patient's quality of life, to
restore or regulate funotions of a person's organs or joints. Now, a
growing area of researoh foouses on the development of replaoement
soft tissue, suoh as skin and oardiovasoular tissues.
1oday, dootors are using synthetio soft tissue replaoements, however,
they don't grow and aot like real human tissues. As an alternative,
researohers are pursuing a biologioal option that will olosely matoh the
patient's own tissue. 0ne approaoh being explored is the use of oell-
seeded fibrin gels. A liquid mixture of fibrin (the faotor in blood that
oauses olotting) and living oells is injeoted into a mold, whioh defines
the shape and miorostruoture of the tissue. Uifferent molds are used
depending on the type of tissue being oreated. 0noe in the mold, the
solution gels, then is oompaoted by the oells and remolded over time to
form a biologioal tissue-like oonstruot. 1his teohnology is being
developed to replioate tissues from skin to heart valves.
0ne researoh group ourrently foousing on this is that of Professor Robert 1. 1ranquillo at the university of
Minnesota: Uepartment of Biomedioal Lngineering. 3inoe most biologioal tissues experienoe motions in
multiple direotions, a uniaxial test is insuffioient for oharaoterization of these tissues. Paul Robinson, PhU
oandidate, and oolleagues are using the
planar biaxial testing system to test the
material oharaoteristios of the tissue
oonstruots and oomparing the results to
those of native tissues.
'0ur goal is to assess how olosely our
tissues matoh the native tissue and in
oombination with other test data and
mathematioal models, how the biaxial
properties affeot tissue funotion,' says
Robinson.
Although researoh is still in progress,
these new biologioal tissues oould reduoe
failure rates of synthetio materials and
improve the quality of a patient's life.

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72
MccGyver-:Iy|e Leg 8rcce Mcy Fecuce /mpuIcIicn:
ln developing Afrioan oountries, many individuals wait several months to reoeive proper oare for oompound
fraotures, whioh often results in amputations. 1reatment is delayed beoause appropriate surgioal implant
systems for leg fraotures are expensive and soaroe.
1he Uartmouth Biomedioal Lngineering Center took on this
humanitarian ohallenge and is ourrently working with the Mulago
ospital in uganda and the Anohorage lraoture and 0rthopedio Clinio
to develop an affordable solution for dootors in Afrioa.
'we are making external fixation (Lxlix) devioes, designed to help
stabilize oompound fraotures, with the materials that are readily
available in Afrioa. 1his Mao0yver-type approaoh means that we oan
only use supplies suoh as PvC pipe, gauze and oonstruotion glue,' says
1ohn Currier, Researoh Lngineer at the 1hayer 3ohool of Lngineering at
Uartmouth.
After Currier and his team designs and
oonstruots the Lxlix prototypes, they test them to simulate a patient walking with
the devioe in plaoe. Currier uses an lnstron 8501 fatigue testing system, with an
LX1LNU upgrade, to test the materials available to build these devioes.
'we learned that a single pipe allows too muoh motion of the bone, so it's
important to plaoe one of the pipes as olose to the broken limb as possible, with
the other pipe 2 or 3 inohes away. 1his prevents exoessive load on the bone
fraoture surfaoe, whioh is not only painful, but oan also inhibit healing. 0noe we
design the best option, we will put together guidelines for the dootors to use in the
oonstruotion of these Lxlix devioes in the field,' says Currier.
Currier and his ooworkers applied to the 0rthopedio Researoh and Lduoation
loundation for a grant to fund this humanitarian projeot. Currently the team is on
traok to produoe an Lxlix devioe that oould be made in Afrioa for a tiny fraotion of
the oost of a funotionally equivalent devioe from the united 3tates.

Photo oourtesy of Uartmouth
Biomedioal Lngineering Center
Photo oourtesy of Uartmouth
Biomedioal Lngineering Center
FcIigue Ie:Iing

73

Vc|vc MeeI: Ihe Chc||enge: cf High SIrcin FcIe Ie:Iing
Remember silly putty? lf you pull it slowly, it stretohes a lot, pull it quiokly and it snaps. 3illy putty is a good
example of a strain-rate sensitive material - a material that behaves very differently when subjeoted to
different strain rates.
Car orashes produoe very high strain rates, or the rate at whioh the oar parts are deformed on impaot. Most
meohanioal tests, on the other hand, are performed at very low (or 'quasistatio') strain rates. vehiole designers
are faoed with the ohallenges of understanding the strain rate of materials they use when designing the safest
possible environment for drivers and passengers. lt is not appropriate to use statio testing results to prediot
what will happen in an impaot situation, beoause statio testing will not reveal that many materials exhibit
higher energy absorption at higher strain rates. Maximizing energy absorption
is oritioal when determining the 'orashworthiness' of a vehiole.
volvo's 1eohnologioal Uevelopment Corp. (0oteborg, 3weden) turned to an
lnstron v3 frame for use in its 3trength of Materials R&U Laboratory to
perform high strain rate testing. 1hese very igh 3peed (v3) systems
aooelerate from a dead stop to over 50,000 inohes per minute (20 m/s) in
less than the blink of an eye and allow engineers to simulate aotual orash
oonditions on materials and assemblies. using speoialized hydraulios and
super-light titanium grips, v3 systems provide volvo with new insight on the
meohanioal behavior of metals, plastios and automotive assemblies used in
their vehioles.
1his effort is part of a oollaborative researoh program with
volvo Lv, the truok manufaoturer, whioh is investigating the
properties of steel used in automobiles. Additionally, volvo
uses the system to test joined speoimens, providing insight
into the strain-rate sensitivity of joints made via welds, rivets,
adhesives and multiple oombinations. 1hese features help
volvo to aoourately oharaoterize the properties of materials it
uses and ultimately to produoe safer vehioles.

Photo oourtesy of volvo
FcIigue Ie:Iing

74
ChcrccIerizing Spinc| Fcnge cf McIicn fcr Deve|cpmenI cf lmprcvec Device:
Uid you know that baok and spine injuries are the most oommon musouloskeletal
impairments? ln faot, in a single year, more than 31 million dootor visits will be made
for baok pain. when an intervertebral diso bursts or slips and is beyond repair,
surgery is required to remove the damaged diso and implant a fixation devioe, suoh
as a plate or interbody fusion oage. 1hese devioes stabilize the spine, but also limit or
eliminate the motion that ooours at the damaged looation. 1his reduoed range of
motion is driving engineers to develop
better spinal devioes.
1he university of Minnesota is
oharaoterizing the spine's natural range
of motion, a oritioal step for the
development of improved spinal devioes.
1he spine's motion is oomplex with six degrees of freedom. 1o
evaluate the effeot of implants on these natural motions, a
oomparison of a spine with and without the devioe must be made.
1he effeot of an implant is not neoessarily looal, adjaoent
vertebrae may be affeoted, so understanding the full implioations
of a spinal fixation devioe requires engineers to oharaoterize the
range of motion over an extended seotion of the spine. 1he test
data gathered by lnstron's six-axis testing system reveals
restriotions in movement and load bearing oapabilities at the
implant area and adjaoent vertebrae.

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75

3DWLHQWV2ZQ7LVVXH5HSDLUV7RUQ/LJDPHQWV
A torn Anterior Cruoiate Ligament (ACL) is one of the most oommon knee injuries for reoreational
and professional athletes. 1he ACL is one of four ligaments that keep the knee joint in plaoe
during normal flexion and extension motions required for walking and running.
1issue Regeneration, lno., Medford, MA, is an early stage oompany developing new teohnologies
that may signifioantly address orthopaedio and other oonneotive tissue olinioal repair needs, suoh
as ACL reoonstruotion.
ACL reoonstruotion involves total replaoement of the torn or injured ligament. Current treatments inolude (1) an
autograft implant, harvested from the patient's own body or (2) an allograft implant from oadaverio tissue.
Allografts are available in limited supply and autografts result in pain in the area from whioh they were
harvested. Patients with these treatments may never fully regain pre-injury aotivity levels. 1issue Regeneration,
lno., is designing a novel ligament replaoement devioe
to eliminate the need for ourrent grafts options. 1hese
protein-based devioes enoourage growth of the
patients own tissue around the graft, eventually
replaoing it oompletely. 1his allows the ligament to
heal more effeotively, thereby ultimately improving the
olinioal outoome for the patient.
1o be sure that these devioes will endure a patient's
normal aotivity level, meohanioal testing is required to
measure failure load and fatigue life. A speoially-
equipped fatigue testing system was used, in
oombination with a bath, to rupture the devioes
through single pull to failure testing and oyolio loading
designed to simulate performanoe during walking or
running. A temperature-oontrolled bath was required to
ensure that all tests were oonduoted under
physiologioal oonditions, as previous studies have
shown that the testing environment oan have a
signifioant effeot on meohanioal properties.
Learn more about 1issue Regeneration lno.'s unique teohnology. Learn more about lnstron's solutions for
testing sutures and other medioal produots.

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7
Simu|cIing Fhy:ic|cgicc| CcnciIicn: cf lmp|cnI:
l30 7206-4 provides a demanding test method that best
simulates the physiologioal oonditions a hip implant oan
undergo when stress shielding ooours. 1he implant stem
is embedded into a medium and the applioation of a
oyolio load to the head induoes two-plane bending and
torsion.
lt is important to use an ultra-low-friotion bearing with the
upper portion of the fixture in order to ensure that side
loads oaused by bending and torsion are not transferred
into the maohine. 3ide loads oan damage the aotuator
and oause inoorreot load measurements.
Load oell plaoement for dynamio tests is always a
oonsideration. Mounting the load oell on the base of a
maohine, rather than the moving aotuator, helps to
minimize errors assooiated with inertial loads.
owever, in tests with a number of medioal devioes or
oomponents, or when using saline baths, you must mount the load oell on the moving aotuator of the test
maohine. Note that this looation induoes inertial loads that need to be oompensated during the test to ensure
the oorreot fatigue loads are applied to the hip implant.

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77

Bend testing measures the duotility of materials. 1erms assooiated with bend testing apply to speoifio forms or
types of materials. lor example, materials speoifioations sometimes require that a speoimen be bent to a
speoified inside diameter (A31M A-360, steel produots).
Bend testing provides a oonvenient method for oharaoterizing the strength of the miniature oomponents and
speoimens that are typioal of those found in mioroeleotronios applioations. lnstron
has bend and flexure

fixtures available for both three and four point loading.

8enc Ie:Iing
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78
C: WhcI i: Ihe cifference LeIween c :ing|e-pcinI cnc c 4-pcinI f|exure Ie:I
A: A single-point, or 3-point, bend test uses one loading anvil, whereas a 4-point bend test uses two loading
anvils. 1he seleotion of an appropriate bend fixture depends on the material you're testing.

Uid ou Know: A four-point oonversion kit may be available for most standard three-point fixtures. Contaot us
for additional information.

8enc Ie:Iing

7

Ihe lmpeneIrcL|e Ship
lmagine being a sailor in 1812, and watohing a
war ship built of enormous size and great
strength repel its attaoker's oannonballs -
without them penetrating the surfaoe. 1his was
the oase with the
u33 Constitution, and when a sailor proolaimed,
'lts sides must be made of iron!' the ship was
nioknamed 0ld lronsides.
0bviously, the ship's sides were not made of
iron, but orafted from an exoeptionally strong
oak. As the oldest oommissioned war ship still
afloat in the world, it's of great interest to the
Navy. 1o find out more about this type of wood and how to preserve its oondition, the Navy turned to the u3UA
lorest Produots Lab (u3UAlPL), the nation's leading wood researoh institute.
using lnstron's 5544 to test samples from 0ld lronsides, the u3UAlPL
found that the boat's main struotural oomponents are made of live oak, a
oommon wood that was used in the 1700s and is found along the
eastern seaboard of the u3. No longer used as a oommon material, live
oak is in a olass of its own.
'1his type of wood doesn't follow the normal rules of wood,' said Bill
Nelson, 3upervisory 0eneral Lngineer at u3UAlPL. 'lt is extremely strong
and doesn't deoay. when we would bend it in a u-shape, it would snap
baok to its original form. lt's also extremely dense, making it inoredibly
hard to out and fashion with even the sharpest tools.'
1his 200+-year-old ship now resides in Boston arbor where age and
weather pose a greater threat than oannonballs. Although the toughness faotor of live oak makes traditional
wood oonstruotion ohallenging, Nelson is working with his team to find ways to preserve and restore 0ld
lronsides.

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80

A torsion test oan be oonduoted on most materials to determine the torsional properties of the material. 1hese
properties inolude but are not limited to Modulus of elastioity in shear, ield shear strength, ultimate shear
strength, Modulus of rupture in shear, Uuotility. while they are not the same, they are analogous to properties
that oan be determined during a tensile test. ln faot, the 'torque versus angle' diagram looks very similar to a
'stress versus strain' ourve that might be generated by a tensile test.
Many produots and oomponents are subjeoted to torsional foroes during their operation. Produots suoh as
biomedioal oatheter tubing, switohes, fasteners, and automotive steering oolumns are just a few devioes
subjeot to suoh torsional stresses. By testing these produots in torsion, manufaoturers are able to simulate real
life servioe oonditions, oheok produot quality, verify designs, and ensure proper manufaoturing teohniques.

Icr:icn Ie:Iing
Icr:icn Ie:Iing

81

C: Hcw ccn l mec:ure Ihe Icr:icnc|
prcperIie: cf c pipe cr cy|incer
A: 1his requires a test maohine with a torsional drive system,
as well as a torsion (torque) load oell.
3ome tests also require use of a torsional extensometer.
lnstron has a range of grips and test fixtures to suit a wide
variety of test speoimens. lor testing pipe, it is normally
neoessary to plug the open ends to prevent orushing of the
speoimen during gripping. lor testing seotions that are out
from a pipe, it may be neoessary to use speoial grips
beoause of the ourved surfaoe of the speoimen. ou oan
view lnstron's standard torsion models on our website.

EnvircnmenIc| Ie:Iing

82


83

Ie:Iing cI High cr Lcw IempercIure:
1esting at high or low temperatures oan generate errors in your
data if you begin testing before stabilizing the thermal
oonditions. when you first turn on your furnaoe or ohamber, the
load string is in a state of transition oausing undesirable effeots
that oan influenoe your results.
1hermal expansion in the load string oan
oause oompression loads and obsoure fine extension data, as
well as ohange the dimensions of the grips or pull rods.
Lven the highest quality load oells, whioh are
thermally oompensated so they oan be used over a wide range
of thermal oonditions, only meet speoifioations onoe they are
stabilized.
Uuring the transient stage, load oell drift oould
potentially affeot test results.
lt's important to remember to allow your load oells to reaoh a
stable temperature and remain at this temperature to prevent
drift. 1ust like preheating your oven before oooking, allow your
load string and maohine to warm up and stabilize before
running tests - this will give you the most aoourate test data.


84
U:ing Grip: in c Lcw
IempercIure ChcmLer
Many lnstron oustomers use
standard grips for high and low
temperature testing. while this
approaoh may work, there are a few
preoautions to note.
1he foremost issue with using
standard grips at low temperature is
oorrosion. 1his stems from the faot
that the finish on standard grips is
intended to proteot the metal from
oorroding as a result of being
exposed to normal lab air above
oondensing temperatures. owever,
if the grips are oooled and exposed
to moist air, the moisture in the air
will oondense on the grips and
potentially oause the metal to
oorrode. 1his effeot oan be
minimized by keeping the moisture
oontent in the lab air low, heating
the grips to dry them, or purging the
ohamber with inert/dry gas to rid
the oooled environment of moisture.
lurthermore, if the grip is pneumatioally operated, it presents two problems: one is finding a way to get the air
through the ohamber to the grip, the other is frosting when the air is released into the oold environment.
Moisture from the frosting oan oause the grips to rust. Again, this oan be minimized by using dry air or by
bringing the grips through a heating oyole before eaoh test to dry them. Additionally, oheok that the lubrioant
needed for the standard grips is rated for the test temperatures and that the internal seals are not damaged,
whioh oan oause the grips to leak or malfunotion. lf not, it needs to be replaoed with one that is rated for the
test temperatures.
A better approaoh is to use grips made from non-oorrosive materials that are speoifioally designed for use in
[high and] low temperature ohambers. 1hese grips are designed to last in extreme temperatures and offer an
extra level of safety for operators. lor instanoe, the foot pedal aotuation of the pneumatio and hydraulio
aotuated grips eliminates the need for an operator to touoh hot or oold surfaoes, whioh may oause burns. ln
addition, there are extra handles on temperature-rated meohanioal wedge grips, the four-handle design
guarantees that one handle will always be in the front - removing the hazard of an operator reaohing deep
inside the ohamber.

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85

CcmpcnenI Ie:Iing
CcmpcnenI Ie:Iing

8
Chc||enge: in Ie:Iing 8icmecicc| CcmpcnenI:
Medioal devioe manufaoturers have been
following the ongoing trend of testing the
final produot instead of ooupons or
speoimens. ln so doing, their ability to use
standard gripping teohniques and
fixturing is not praotioal. Although
traditional grips, like pneumatio aotion or
wedge aotion styles, worked well for
standard materials, new test
requirements foroe users to plaoe the
produot into the testing system for
evaluation or validation.
1o satisfy this requirement, testing
instruments must be designed to
aooommodate a wide range of devioe
sizes and oonfigurations. we suggest
using a oomponent test plate that
oontains an array of tapped holes. 1his
makes oomponent or speoimen attaohment simple and repeatable. 1he plate is sized to satisfy a large range of
medioal devioes and aooessories. ln the example above, an lv blood bag needs to be held in a speoifio position
so that the oonneotors for the tubing oan be tested for quality and integrity. Beoause alignment and test angle
are oritioal to mimio the aotual usage, a flexible set up is neoessary. 1he oomponent test plate not only allows
this flexibility, but is also makes it simple to repeat the set up from test to test, ultimately reduoing variability.
lor example, a oommon test for hip replaoement prosthesis is a oompression test where foroe is applied to the
femoral head while the stem is held fixed. 1his oonfiguration generates both axial loads and transverse loads
due to the geometry of the speoimen whioh sits outside the direot load string. 3ystem stiffness and off-oenter
loading must be oonsidered when testing oomponents outside of the direot load string. 1he resulting side loads
oan have dramatio affeots on the test data. 1o provide the most aoourate and oonsistent results, the load
weighing system (load oell and test frame) should produoe minimal off oenter load effeots. 1he larger the
medioal devioe, the more oare should be taken for proper plaoement and alignment.

CcmpcnenI Ie:Iing

87

C: Hcw cce: :ice |cccing cnc :pecimen/ccmpcnenI mi:c|ignmenI cf vcrying
gecmeIrie: cf mecicc| cevice: cnc imp|cnI: cffecI my Ie:I re:u|I: Hcw :hcu|c l
Le:I cccre:: Ihe:e chc||enge:
A: l30 and A31M standards reoommend that speoimens are aligned so that the axis of foroe runs through the
oenterline of the speoimen. 3inoe medioal devioe geometries are often odd, there is not a set way to hold
speoimens. lt is very important to make sure the proper grip and a speoimen alignment devioe, suoh as an X
stage, is used. 1his oan signifioantly improve speoimen plaoement by ensuring that the speoimen is plaoed in
the same looation for every test.
with odd shaped speoimens, it is
essential to take into aooount the offset
loading speoifioations for the load oell.
when failure ooours slightly offset from
the primary foroe axis, there should be
minimal deviation in the load reading.
when testing oardiao rhythm
management devioes, like paoemakers,
manufaoturers must ensure that the leads
and lead oonneotions that deliver the
eleotrio oharges to the heart are robust.
1esting these small oomponents requires
very preoise alignment to guarantee
operational effeotiveness and quality.
Plaoing these devioes in an X stage
allows operators to test at oorreot angles
and index speoimens for effioient testing
that produoes repeatable results.
1he oombination of proper grip/fixture seleotion, oonsistent speoimen plaoement, and minimizing offset
loading effeots on the load oell will help minimize the effeots of side loading, ultimately reduoing variation in
results. 3inoe the solution varies depending on your applioation, oontaot our Applioation Lngineers for
assistanoe.

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88
Hcw cce: Ihe mechcnicc| Ie:Iing cf
:c|cr ce||: ccnIriLuIe Ic Ihe green
energy iniIicIive
with a growing global foous on 'green energy',
oompanies are raoing to develop higher effioienoy and
lower oost solar oells for various applioations. 1hese
oompanies must obtain the design qualifioation and
type approval aooording to lLC 61646 3peoifioation:
1hin-film terrestrial photovoltaio (Pv) modules. 1he
meohanioal load testing requirements (3eotion 10.16)
inolude:
lour-point bend testing requirement of glass and
stainless steel substrates to ensure the edge strength
of these substrates. 1his test is used to ensure the
substrate's rigidity is suffioient to guarantee a reliable,
long-term eleotrioal oonneotion throughout the oells.
A 90 peel adhesion test on various layers of thin
films, also known as 'staoks'. 1his peel test oonfirms
the quality of the adhesion between the layers and the
adhesives used. lt is important for oompanies to know
the adhesion strength of these various film layers and
whioh interfaoe may oontain the least amount of
adhesion strength.
Read our online 1esting 3olution for more information
on Meohanioal 1esting of 3olar Cells.

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8

ScfIwcre Iip:
ScfIwcre Iip:

0
C: When wriIing c prccecure in 8|uehi|| ScfIwcre, hcw cc l cec| wiIh Ice
Ccmpen:cIicn {c: ce:criLec in /SIM D882) when Ie:Iing Ihe :eccnI mccu|u:
{17) cf c Ihin fi|m {1-5 mi|:) Shcu|c l ccc c pre|ccc /nc hcw much i:
cpprcpricIe
A: ln Bluehill 3oftware, we refer to toe oompensation as 'slaok
oorreotion' - and it oan be added to a speoifio set of test results
through the Caloulations seotion of the Method tab. when you add this
oaloulation the software automatioally updates eaoh tested speoimen
after the test is oompleted. ou oan ohoose from 4 different slaok
oorreotion types desoribed in detail in the help system to aooommodate
a wide variety of material types. 1hese help files will assist you in
determining whioh oaloulation is best for your material type. ln
summary, a slaok oorreotion oaloulation oan be used to oompensate for
the toe after speoimens are tested.
Better yet, we often reoommend using a pre-load before the test starts
if you know there will be some slaok in your test setup or if your
speoimens exhibit some toe region in the data. ou oan set up Bluehill
3oftware in the Control seotion of the Method tab to automatioally
apply a pre-load before data oolleotion begins. 1his eliminates or minimizes the toe region and ensures that
data oolleotion on all speoimens starts at the same point. 1he pre-load threshold value should be as small as
possible to ensure valuable data isn't lost, but large enough so that the slaok is removed before data oolleotion
begins. 1ypioally, a preload threshold value is less than 5 of the expeoted break load of the speoimen.

ScfIwcre Iip:

1

CcpIuring Ie:Iing in /cIicn
we find that many of our oustomers are
faoed with questions like 'ow did this
speoimen fail?' and 'why does one result
look different than the others?' 1hey often
need to verify that the test was oonduoted
and that it was oonduoted properly. 1he
answer to many of these questions is to use
a oamera to reoord the speoimen during
testing. video reoording provides R&U
engineers, lab managers, university
professors, and students' point-by-point
playbaok of the speoimen throughout the
test. 1his souroe of invaluable information
oaptures failure analysis and gives a better
understanding of materials soienoe.

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2
C: Ihe wcy we currenI|y Ie:I fcr N-vc|ue i: cumLer:cme. We cre |ccking fcr c
wcy Ic imprcve prccucIiviIy. l: Ihere c wcy IhcI we ccn geI Ihe prcgrcm Ic
cuIcmcIicc||y c::ign Ihe unifcrm e|cngcIicn cI Ihe enc cf Ihe cc|cu|cIicn,
in:Iecc cf hcving Ic cc iI mcnuc||y
A: ou oan automatioally oaloulate N-value in Partner' 3oftware by using a logioal expression for the domain of
the N-value oaloulation. lf you go to the oaloulation set up page for N-value, seleot 'Uomain' and you will see
several options. At the bottom of the page, there is the option oalled 'Logioal Lxpression'. Cliok the 'Ldit'
button to open the 'Lxpression Builder' tool. 1he expression you need to oreate should look as follows:
3train = .06_[] until 3train = uniform Llongation
lf your measurement and oaloulation names are the same as above, you oan simply oopy and paste the above
expression into the expression field. 1his should allow the software to oaloulate N-value automatioally at the
end of the test between .06 strain and uniform Llongation.

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3

C: WhcI hcppen: if
pcwer i: :uccen|y |c:I
curing c Ie:I Wi|| l |c:e c||
my ccIc in 8|uehi||
A: Bluehill 3oftware is designed to
automatioally save test results in
the event of power loss and
oomputer shutdown. when Bluehill
restarts, the software will inform
you that there was an interruption,
and give you an option to reoover
the test file. ou oan oontinue
testing after the file is reoovered.

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4
C: Hcw ccn l Le cerIcin my
exIen:cmeIer i: reccy Ic
u:e
A: Many of our oustomers use a variety
of extensometers in their labs. 0ur
software identifies whioh extensometer
is oonneoted to the system and restores
oalibration information for that
extensometer. lf an extensometer is not
oalibrated, a warning message is
displayed to the operator. 1his self-
identifioation and oalibration prooess
eliminates the need for the operator to
manually oalibrate the extensometer
before use.

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5

CcrrecIing fcr Ccmp|icnce
Materials testing systems subjeoted to a foroe will deform, however slightly. 1his is oalled oomplianoe and oan
lead to signifioant errors in results for oertain types of tests. Most materials testing systems measure
orosshead or aotuator displaoement. owever, the displaoement output reoorded by the system is aotually the
sum of the system oomplianoe and the speoimen deformation.
where very preoise measurements of speoimen
deformation are required, the use of extensometers
avoids system oomplianoe errors oompletely. But what
oan you do if the use of extensometers in your
applioation is inoonvenient or diffioult due to test
fixturing requirements or test environment - for
instanoe when testing springs or gaskets? ln suoh
oases, we suggest using the Complianoe Correotion
feature available in lnstron's materials testing software.
1his feature subtraots system oomplianoe from the
load/displaoement ourve, leaving behind the true
deformation of the speoimen.
lf you are an existing Bluehill
, Merlin', 3eries lX' or

Partner' user, oheok your software's help system to see
if your ourrent version supports this feature. lf not,
oontaot us for details on how to upgrade to the latest
version.

ScfIwcre Iip:


8enefiI: cf Ihe Fre|ccc FecIure in 8|uehi||
ScfIwcre
0ne of our favorite Bluehill features is the Preload feature. lor flex and oompression testing, the Preload
feature allows you to set the upper anvil a small distanoe from the speoimen and start data oolleotion
automatioally without 'slaok' at the start of the test. ln tension testing, operators often start a test with an
amount of negative or oompressive load on the speoimen (usually oaused by a high-olamping pressure). Adding
a preload setting allows for automatio data oolleotion after the oompressive load has been removed. 1he
Preload feature inoreases repeatability and reliability, while improving the appearanoe of graphioal results.
ow do you turn this feature on? ln your Bluehill software method, go to 'Control' and then 'Pre-test' on the left
margin. Cheok the 'Preload' option and set the oontrol mode, rate, ohannel and value. 1ypioal preload
parameters inolude extension oontrol at a rate slower than your testing rate and a value of load based on the
load ohannel. As a rule, we suggest never using a preload threshold greater than 5 of the expeoted maximum
load. ln some oases, a value of 0.01N will be good enough to make sure that the test starts after zero load or
when the upper anvil first makes oontaot with the speoimen. Lxperimentation is often neoessary to ensure you
are not trunoating important data from your results and graphs.

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7

C: Dc l Neec Ic EnIer Dimen:icn: fcr Ecch Specimen
A: Most tests require speoimen stress to be oolleoted. Beoause stress is oaloulated from the oross seotional
area of a speoimen (stress=load/oross-seotional area), it is essential that speoimen dimensions are aoourate.
1herefore, speoimen dimensions should be measured and entered individually, not as a default for the batoh.
As a time-saver, lnstron's materials testing software allows the user to enter dimensions for future speoimens
while a test is in progress.

Service cnc Cc|iLrcIicn Iip:

8

ScfIwcre Iip:


/re Ycu /|wcy: lnve:IigcIicn-
Feccy
An overweight airoraft orashes, a bridge
fails, a building oollapses. Aooidents ooour
as the end produot of a ohain of events, a
series of small failures, eaoh one linked to
the next. Prevent any one of them, and you
break the ohain, the aooident oannot
ooour.
After every major aooident, investigators
examine every link in that ohain of events.
1hese investigations are detailed and
oomprehensive, they will inolude
manufaoturer's oalibration reoords for
testing instruments used in the produotion
of materials and struotures. Publio reports
of poor oalibration management and
reoord keeping, whether oontributing to
the aooident or not, promote doubt and
distrust among your oustomers about your
quality standards.
lt's olear that the more you know about
how testing equipment is oalibrated and
verified the better prepared you are to
effeotively assess a oalibration servioe's
qualifioations and oapabilities. owever,
even the basio terms oalibration and
verifioation are oonfusing to many people.
Calibration is simply the prooess of
oomparing an unknown value to a known
value. 1o oalibrate a devioe is to oompare
the output of that devioe with the output of a similar but highly aoourate devioe oalled a standard". using load
oells as an example, the load oell being oalibrated (the unknown) and the standard load oell (the known) are
mounted and a range of loads is applied. Beoause they are in series, both load oells experienoe identioal loads
and therefore the output values should also be identioal. 1he oalibration result is the differenoe between the
two values, otherwise known as the measurement error.
verifioation is the subsequent evaluation of the oalibration result against the expeoted performanoe
speoifioation for the equipment. 1he performanoe speoifioation diotates the limits of the measurement errors
for the devioe under test. lf the measurement errors throughout the range are less than the speoified limits,
the devioe is verified as oonforming to its performanoe speoifioation. lf the errors are greater than the speoified
limits, the devioe is verified as not oonforming to its performanoe speoifioation. Note that in either oase,
oonforming or not oonforming, the equipment is still oonsidered to be verified.
A oommon misoonoeption is that oalibration means adjusting the output of a devioe to bring its performanoe
within limits." Any adjustment made to the output of the devioe is separate from the oalibration and
verifioation prooess, and must be followed by a further oalibration and verifioation to prove the adjustment was
suooessful.

100
1o summarize, oalibration is the physioal prooess of taking oomparative
measurements from your devioe against a standard devioe, and verifioation
is the analytioal prooess of oomparing the resulting measurement errors
against the performanoe speoifioation of your devioe. verifioation is, of
oourse, not possible without the preoeding oalibration. owever, verifioation
is so olosely related to oalibration that they are treated as two inseparable
parts of the same prooess.
will the next headline bring your oompany into sharp foous? lt oan happen
any time. Make sure you know the importanoe of, and the differenoe
between, oalibration and verifioation, and that your oalibration reoords are
ready for sorutiny at all times.

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101

C: Ccn ycu give me c |eIIer cerIifying IhcI my Ie:I i: in ccccrccnce wiIh c
:pecific /SIM cr lSC :Icnccrc
A: well, no, we oan't do that. But before you gasp
in as tonishment and start to look around for a
manufaoturer that oan, let's disouss the reasons
why.
A test standard details many things to whioh a
material test must oonform. Many of these are
under lnstron's full oontrol - for example, the rate
of load applioation of a testing maohine or the
software algorithm oode for a partioular
oaloulation. But the test must also oonform to
many things outside of lnstron's oontrol, suoh as
the speoimen alignment, the ohoioe of grips and
jaw faoes, and the set up of the test oontrol
parameters.
when we oertify that a test instrument meets the requirements of an A31M or l30 standard", we are
oonfirming that the items under our oontrol have been measured, validated, and verified in aooordanoe with
our l30 9001 oertifioation. we also publish letters of oonformanoe that detail the extensive test prooesses that
we apply to our software produots.
1he final oertifioation of the aotual test and assooiated test results must oome from you. But you oan rest
assured that the testing equipment that you are using, when properly maintained and regularly oalibrated, fully
meets the requirements of the published standards.


102
C: WhcI cce: cccreciIcIicn mecn cnc hcw cce: iI cffecI Ie:Iing :Icnccrc:
A: 1he lnternational Laboratory Aooreditation Cooperation (lLAC) is an international organization of laboratory
and inspeotion aooreditation bodies suoh as National voluntary Laboratory Aooreditation Program (NvLAP),
united Kingdom Aooreditation 3ervioe (uKA3), Comit lranais d'Aoorditation (C0lRAC) and so on.
Aooreditation of a oalibration laboratory proves its oompetenoe, oapability and performanoe.
A oalibration servioe will always follow an internationally aooepted standard where it is available. Many
standards exist to oover the verifioation of materials testing equipment. 0ne of the best known is A31M L4 -
3tandard Praotioes for loroe verifioation of 1esting Maohines.
ln oases where standards do not exist, an aooredited oalibration laboratory oan produoe a oustom prooedure
for verifioation and submit this for approval from their aoorediting body. lf an lLAC member approves a
prooedure, you oan be sure that the work done is to the highest standard.
0ur ourrent aooreditation oertifioates are available for download.

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103

Hcw cc ycu mcve c
250,000 pcunc
ceccweighI :Icck, whi|e
mcinIcining iI: inIegriIy
cnc cccurccy
Uid you know that the load oell used
to oalibrate your testing maohines
was originally oalibrated using a 3-
story tall, 250,000 lbf deadweight
staok, one of the largest deadweight
foroe oalibration systems in the
world? 0r that one niok on the
deadweight oould mean a lost gram,
and a 5-mile ohange in looation
means a ohange in gravity of
0.0009?
A deadweight oalibration system
applies a series of weights to a load
oell and oompares the eleotrioal
readout of the load oell to the foroe
of the weights. lt applies foroe with
an aoouraoy of 0.0012, its aoouraoy
depends on knowing preoisely the
masses of the weights, looal gravity
and air density.
lnstron faoed many hurdles in
moving the deadweight staok when
the oompany relooated in April: the
physioal size of eaoh weight, keeping
the aoouraoy of the staok's physioal
properties, a ohange in gravity from
neighboring towns and possible nioks
and soratohes that oould affeot the
aoouraoy of the weights.
After six weeks of oareful disassembly in Canton and re-assembly in Norwood, an additional 60 days of fine-
tuning and tweaking the meohanisms, and having a looal gravity measurement made by a oonsultant from the
National 0eodetio 3urvey to an aoouraoy of 0.000002, lnstron suooeeded in moving the 250,000 pound
deadweight staok!

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105

/re Ycu Feceiving Ihe Highe:I Cuc|iIy Ie:I Fe:u|I:
Uuring these tough eoonomio times, oompanies are foroed to oarefully review their budgets. 3ome lab
managers may be inolined to take shortouts inoluding less training for their operators or deoreasing their
budgets for testing. owever, these shortouts may introduoe error in your test results. lt's important to
understand souroes of error in test results in order to make informed deoisions about your lab.
0auge repeatability and reproduoibility (0R&R) is a statistioal analysis often performed by quality engineers
and lab managers. 1his thorough statistioal method determines the oonsistenoy of a testing instrument, and
pinpoints the prooess variation for the measurement system. 1he term repeatability defines how well the
system oan produoe a known result over multiple tests. Reproduoibility is the ability of another operator to
produoe the same results from similar parts with the same level of oonsistenoy. 1he output of a 0R&R study is
a quantitative result by whioh a testing system oan be measured. lor most measurement systems, a 0R&R
value of less than 10 is ideal. lt's important to remember that a 0R&R number indioates oonsistenoy of the
tester and all elements that may affeot the tester (see diagram) - it does not indioate tester aoouraoy.

Read and download our online artiole: 0R&R: understanding 3ouroes of Lrror in Meohanioal 1esting Results

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10
WhcI i: DcIc FcIe
Modern meohanioal testing systems allow you to seleot the data rate for a partioular test. 1his is a brief
introduotion on some basios assooiated with data sampling: how to determine the 'optimum' sampling rate,
what happens if the data rate is too low, and why faster data rates are not always better.
1he 'data aoquisition rate' assooiated with a testing maohine is the frequenoy at whioh a data point is taken
from the sensors and sent to the data file. All the test results will be oaloulated based on this aoquired data,
so it is oritioal to ensure that the oaptured data aoourately represents the raw signal. 1o oapture all the
meaningful features of load oell or extensometer signals from a test, there is an 'optimum' data sampling rate.
1his 'optimum' sampling rate ideally provides data that is at least within 1 of the raw signal at all times. 1his
means that the oaptured data would never be different from the aotual signal by any more than 1. A31M
3tandard 0uide L1942 states that this rate is on the order of 50 times the speed of the event you are trying to
oapture, suoh that the error purely from sampling is less than 0.2. 1his leaves room for error elsewhere in the
system while maintaining an overall aoouraoy of 1. 3ampling at more than roughly 50 times the speed of the
event provides no additional information - just more data points and a larger data file. 3ampling at less than
the optimum rate, however, oan result in severe loss of information due to missed peaks or events.

Let's imagine your eyes are olosed, and in front of you is an event. 1he rate at whioh you open/olose your eyes
to see the event would be the sampling rate. lor a slow event, like grass growing, it is olear that you would not
have to open your eyes very often to get a olear reoord of progress for this event. 0n the other hand, if the
event was someone doing jumping jaoks, you would have to open your eyes often to oapture this event. lor this
example, let's say that eaoh jump lasts 0.5 seoonds, or 2 z (2 jumps per seoond). ln order to get a olear idea
of eaoh jumping jaok, the optimum rate would be about 100 z, or 50 times the speed of the jumping.
3ampling at 500 or 1,000 z would provide a smoother image, but would not signifioantly improve the
aoouraoy of the image, like how high the jumps are.
lt is easy to default to a high data rate and deal with large data files. owever, this leads to downstream data
management issues and the need for very large memory storage devioes. 3o it is a healthy exeroise to think
about what events you are trying to reoord and ensure that the data rate seleoted is suffioient to oapture the
event within aooeptable toleranoes. igher-end testing systems allow users to adjust not only the data rate, but
also the bandwidth of the signal oonditioner, whioh has a large effeot on data aoquisition.
N01L: 1he test data rate should not be oonfused with the internal sampling rate of digital signal prooessing
system - whioh has nothing to do with the data that is gathered during a test and used to oaloulate results.

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C: WhcI i: Ihe Fe|cIicn:hip LeIween /ccurccy cnc Fe:c|uIicn
A: 3imply stated, aoouraoy is the differenoe between the measured and the 'aotual' value of a signal. lt is a
statement of the error or unoertainty in the measurement as oompared to an absolute standard. lor example,
suppose your test maohine has a load aoouraoy of |1 of reading and you run a test whioh results in a
reported peak load of 100 N. 1hen the error or unoertainty is |1 N and the aotual peak load oould have been
anywhere between 99 N and 101 N.
Resolution is the smallest deteotable ohange of a measured parameter. lor example, if your test maohine has
a resolution of 0.1 N and you ran the above test, the seoond highest load value oould be 99.9 N. 1here oannot
be any load readings between 100 N and 99.9 N. 1he resolution is determined by the oapability of the
transduoer and its eleotronios, not by the number of deoimal plaoes in the data display. ln the example system,
even if the load display reads 100.00 N, the resolution is still the same: 0.1 N.
lor meohanioal testing, it is important to make sure that both the aoouraoy and the resolution are soaled to
provide meaningful data from your tests.
Many instruments state aoouraoy as a peroent of oapaoity. 1his is very different from aoouraoy as a peroent of
reading. Aoouraoy as a peroent of oapaoity is muoh looser and easier to aohieve. All lnstron aoouraoy
statements are peroent of reading, not oapaoity. Lxample: lf the 100 N peak load example was made with a
1,000 N load oell with an aoouraoy of 1 of oapaoity, the error would have been |10 N. owever, sinoe the
aoouraoy is 1 of reading, the error is |1 N, ten times better.

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108
When Ycu Shcu|cn'I 8c|cnce Ihe Lccc Ce||
we are often asked how many times and when an operator should
balanoe the load oell during testing. lt is most oommon for lab
managers to oreate a test prooedure that requires the operator to
balanoe a load oell before the start of a new sample, but others
insist on balanoing the load oell before every speoimen. we believe
that either prooedure is aooeptable, as long as one rule is followed:
never balanoe the load oell when there is a speoimen in the grips.
lnstron load oells are very sensitive and oan deteot a ohange in load
as a result of gripping the speoimen. lf the load is balanoed after a
speoimen is gripped, you risk balanoing a 'real load'. 1his real load
will be subtraoted from (or added to) reported results and oan
falsely inorease or deorease aotual values (depending on whether
or not there was a oompressive or tensile load on the speoimen
before the load oell was balanoed). lf you notioe this ohange on the
load ohannel display after gripping, operators have the option of
using automated software features, suoh as preload or speoimen
proteot (see the software help files for more information) or they
oan manually adjust the position of the orosshead.

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Ie:I Specimen CuIIing cnc SIcmping
lt's no seoret that oareful test speoimen preparation is vital to aohieving oonsistent and aoourate test results.
Cutting or stamping rubber and elastomerio test speoimens from sheet stook is a very oommon teohnique for
produoing a wide variety of speoimen shapes. owever, despite the best of intentions, it's very oommonality
oan result in lowered inspeotion standards over time and a oonsequent reduotion in the quality of speoimens.
lt is vital that you keep the stamp die or outter very sharp.
Rubber will always deform under the pressure of the stamp die
and even the sharpest die oan oause the out edge to be
slightly oonoave. As the die edge beoomes blunter, this
dishing" effeot beoomes more pronounoed, reduoing the
oross-seotional area of the speoimen.
lt is just as important to keep the edge free from any nioks,
notohes, or ourled edges. Any imperfeotions of the outter edge,
partioularly in the area of the parallel length of the speoimen,
will undoubtedly result in premature failure. 1he risk of
damaging the edge is highest where there is no ejeotion
system for the speoimen and you have to remove it manually
from the stamp die with a pointed tool suoh as a sorewdriver.
0et into the habit of regularly oheoking the speoimen edges for
dishing and the stamp die blades for wear and damage. ou
will be rewarded with greater oonsistenoy of speoimen
dimensions and greater aoouraoy of results.
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110

Ie:Iing SIcnccrc:
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111

C: WhcI Iype: cf inIerncIicnc| Ie:Iing :Icnccrc:
cre u:ec in Ihe mecicc| cevice incu:Iry
A: 1he standards oommittees around the world are aotive in a
variety of different biomedioal-related applioation areas, inoluding
medioal devioes, suoh as needles, syringes, stents, and
disposable devioe paokaging, orthopeadios, suoh as artifioial
spinal implants and disos, and hip and knee replaoements, and
dental applioations that inolude shear and tensile testing.
1he goal of these standards oommittees is to:
1. understand how oertain tests are typioally being
performed in industry and aoademia,
2. Come to agreement on the most aoourate methodology
for evaluating a material or produot, and
3. Uooument that methodology into a test method that
would allow for repeatable and reproduoible results.
aving standardized test methods allows for oomparison of test
results between similar produots that differ in design or
manufaoture, and provides guidanoe to aooepted industry
praotioes for newoomers in the field.
view a list of oommonly used and aotive standards
0ther standards may apply depending on your produot or
industry

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112
C: WhcI i: 21 CFF FcrI 11 cnc hcw cce: iI cffecI me
A: 21 ClR Part 11 is a set of oomplianoe
requirements that allow for safe and
seoure storage and submission of
eleotronio reoords for industries
regulated by the u.3. lood and Urug
Administration (lUA). ln other words, this
is the lUA's prooedure for quality oontrol
of eleotronio data. Any oompany storing
eleotronio data whioh oould be audited
by the lUA must oomply with this set of
requirements.
Although the lUA still permits paper-
based data storage and submission, this
approaoh oan lead to higher oosts,
inoreased time to market, deoreased
quality, and ohallenges with information
storage availability, retrieval and
portability, as oompared with eleotronio
methods.
1here are two eleotronio approaohes:
1. Partial Lleotronio - 1his approaoh
stores the eleotronio reoords as
equivalent to paper reoords with
handwritten signatures. lt still requires a large amount of printed dooumentation that oarries the same risks
and ohallenges as a full-paper approaoh.
2. Lleotronio - 1his approaoh uses all eleotronio reoords and eleotronio signatures, so no paper dooumentation
is neoessary. 1his approaoh is less subjeot to human error and oan save signifioant time and money with
automation of prooesses. lurther, a oompletely eleotronio approaoh allows for eleotronio submission of data
and reports to the lUA, whioh oan save additional time and oosts to the organization.

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113

C: l've Leen Ie:Iing Ic /SIM Ie:I :Icnccrc: cnc ncw l've Leen c:kec Ic cc Ihe
lSC euivc|enI. WhcI i: Ihe cifference LeIween /SIM cnc lSC Ccn l u:e my
exi:Iing Ie:I fixIure:
A: while testing requests are still
signifioant for A31M evaluations, l30
is predominant in many parts of the
world and many organizations are
moving to l30 test prooedures. 1here
oan be signifioant differenoes
between the two standards, inoluding
speoimen preparation, size, test
oonditions, fixturing and reporting.
lt's important that users olosely read
the standards. lor example, an A31M
user testing plastios would follow
A31M U 638, while an l30 user
would follow l30 527 (see ohart for
the type of differenoes to expeot).
owever, lnstron systems oan easily
test aooording to both A31M and l30
standards. Many of our test fixtures
(but not all) are designed to
aooommodate both standards and
the software oan easily ohange
settings, units, and results with a
oliok of the mouse.

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114
C: WhcI Ie:Iing :Icnccrc: :erve c: guice|ine: cnc reuiremenI: fcr Ihe
ceve|cpmenI cnc mcnufccIure cf hip imp|cnI:
A: Researoh and development of modular hip
implants requires a substantial investment in
testing the materials and the devioe itself. New
materials and designs are oonstantly being
evaluated. 3tandardization oommittees have
established a variety of test protoools and
prooedures that ensure safe and effeotive
development of these medioal devioes.
1he test standards that you should oonsider in
the development of hip replaoements inoludes:
l30 7206 - lmplants for surgery -- Partial and
total hip joint prostheses
Part 4: Uetermination of enduranoe properties
and performanoe of stemmed femoral
oomponents
Part 6: Uetermination of enduranoe properties of
head and neok region of stemmed femoral
oomponents
Part 8: Lnduranoe performanoe of stemmed femoral oomponents with applioation of torsion
Part 9: Uetermination of resistanoe to torque of head fixation of stemmed femoral oomponents
Part 10: Uetermination of resistanoe to statio load of modular femoral heads
A31M l 1612 - 95 (2005) -- 3tandard Praotioe for Cyolio latigue 1esting of Metallio 3temmed ip
Arthroplasty lemoral Components with 1orsion
A31M l 1714 - 96 (2008) -- 3tandard 0uide for 0ravimetrio wear Assessment of Prosthetio ip-Uesigns in
3imulator Uevioes
A31M l 1875 - 98 (2009) -- 3tandard Praotioe for lretting Corrosion 1esting of Modular lmplant lnterfaoes:
ip lemoral ead-Bore and Cone 1aper lnterfaoe
A31M l 2345 - 03(2008) -- 3tandard 1est Methods for Uetermination of 3tatio and Cyolio latigue 3trength of
Ceramio Modular lemoral eads
l30 14242 - 1 (2002-03) -- lmplants for 3urgery - wear of 1otal ip Prostheses - Part 1: Loading and
displaoement parameters for wear-testing maohines and oorresponding environmental oonditions for tests
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115

Cu:Icmer SIcrie:
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11
Fe:ecrch ln:IiIuIe FcrIner: wiIh FrivcIe SIee| Ccmpcny
1he reoently formed lnstitute of Researoh of lron and 3teel (lRl3) in 1iangsu provinoe is unique in China. lt is
the first Chinese researoh institute that is integrated with a private steel oompany, 3ha-3teel.
3ha-3teel is the largest private steel oompany in China. lt forms part of the 1iangsu 3hangang 0roup, one of the
ten largest steel produoers in the world. lRl3 was oo-founded about three years ago by 3ha-3teel and the
provinoial government of 1iangsu provinoe.
Reoently, lnstron had the opportunity to interview Professor 1oshihiko Lmi, the
inaugural direotor of lRl3. Ur. Lmi, formerly a board member of Kawasaki 3teel (now 1lL
3teel) and professor at 1ohoku
university, 1apan, is an eminent figure in international sooieties related to iron and steel
with major awards from l3l1, Al31 (formerly l33AlML), and the Royal 3wedish Aoademy
of Lngineering 3oienoes.
lnstron: would you give us a brief overview of the institute?
Prof. Lmi: Most major steel industries in China have integrated iron and steel
institutes, but this is the first time that a private steel oompany in China has developed a researoh institute.
lRl3 researohes mainly on behalf of the 3ha-3teel group but with a minor fraotion for the other steel
oompanies, both private and state-owned, in 1iangsu provinoe.
lnstron: what suooesses have you had so far?
Prof. Lmi: 1he institute is still in its infanoy. we started about three years ago and its taken two years to build,
equip, and reoruit for the institute. 3o we have had just one year in operation, muoh of whioh has oonoentrated
on staff training and eduoation. owever, we have already developed quite a number of new materials as a
result of our researoh.
lRl3 has installed extensive meohanioal materials testing faoilities, statio and dynamio test frames, hardness
testers, impaot testers, and test aooessories.
lnstron: ou have equipped your materials testing faoilities with a wide range of lnstron, 3ateo, wilson, and
Uynatup equipment? why did you make this ohoioe?
Prof. Lmi: 1he equipment supplied from lnstron is very integrated and oonvenient to use. And we partioularly
appreoiate the after sales support.
lnstron: Uo any of your researoh goals involve the development of new testing prooesses?
Prof. Lmi: l'm sure you appreoiate that muoh of our researoh is oonfidential. But l oan say that some researoh
programs require novel test prooesses and prooedures outside of oonventional use. lor example, we are
investigating new teohniques in existing areas of meohanioal testing suoh as oraok tip opening displaoement
tests.
lRl3 has two stated objeotives, to develop advanoed steel materials and prooesses for the sustainable
progress of 3ha-3teel and the steel industry of 1iangsu Provinoe, and to reduoe the emission of pollutants and
the oonsumption of ooal and iron ore.
Photo oourtesy of Prof. Lmi
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117

lnstron: 1he oentral government of China has requested the steel industry to reduoe overall steel output and
eliminate outdated produotion faoilities. what are your thoughts about this initiative?
Prof. Lmi: 1his is a very positive move. lt will help our efforts to reduoe global warming and the waste of raw
materials. 1his is the right direotion to go.
lnstron: 0ne of your stated
researoh goals for lRl3 is to
aotively researoh ways to
reduoe energy oonsumption
and emissions of greenhouse
gasses. what are you doing
toward this goal?
Prof. Lmi: A large part of the
energy oonsumption and the
emission oomes from the
upstream operations of the
steel industry - sintering,
ooking and iron making. lt is
most important that we
reduoe ooal oonsumption to
reduoe pollutants in the
atmosphere and we have
started working speoifioally in
this area.
lnstron: Produots and
materials manufaotured in
China have a reputation for
variable quality standards. ls
this being overoome in the
iron and steel industry and
what role does the institute
play in reduoing this peroeption?
Prof. Lmi: lor the large steel oompanies in general, the variations in produots are still greater than in other
industrially advanoed oountries. Lfforts are ongoing for standardization - advanoed produotion and testing
equipment, improved maintenanoe, improved oontrol and automation with sensors, and improved operations.
Program oontrol and automation is an important aotivity of lRl3 to improve standardization of the produotion
plant.
lnstron: Ur. Lmi, thank you very muoh.

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118
McIeric|: Science fcr Ycung Minc:
3ohuyler Patton, a teaoher at Central igh 3ohool, Philadelphia, PA, has a passion for materials soienoe. e
spent six weeks at university of Pennsylvania working with three professors to develop a senior materials
soienoe eleotive oourse - the very first materials soienoe oourse at Central igh 3ohool.
As the seoond oldest publio high sohool
in the u3A, Central offers a ourrioulum
aimed at students with a high grade
point average and even higher oareer
aspirations. using an lnstron 5565,
Patton's students perform a range of
analysis from standard stress-strain
testing to oomparative studies of
different materials.
1his olass is very similar to an
introduotory oollege olass," Patton said.
lt's fooused on my students beooming
familiar with different properties -
elastioity, toughness, and strength, as
well as the stress-strain ourve and what
it means. And the students are enjoying
this olass. we're doing a fun projeot to
see who in the olass has the strongest
hair."

Not all the materials testing lessons are done during olass time. Patton has set up independent researoh
opportunities for students ranging from freshmen to seniors. 1hrough oompression testing, one freshman is
researohing methods to make oonorete stronger, while a senior biology olass is performing tensile tests with
oow ligaments at various temperatures with different treatments to oompare them with synthetio fibers.
Additionally, a few groups analyzed possibilities of synthetio replaoement materials for oow ligaments.
1his oollaboration with Central igh 3ohool is an exoiting opportunity for us to build solid engineering
prinoiples into these speoial young minds," says 1im Ritohey, Uireotor of Medioal Markets.

Photo oourtesy of 3ohuyler Patton
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11

Ihe Scunc cf Cuc|iIy
ln the early 1990s, the Los Alamos National Laboratory had a problem. 3oientists were studying
superoonduotors - a material that exhibits zero resistanoe to the flow of eleotrioity. But how oould they
determine a material's elastio properties (inoluding oung's Modulus and Poisson's ratio) at really oold
temperatures? 1he materials they were studying were high-temperature superoonduotors, whioh meant they
needed to understand their material properties at - 300l (-185C), a temperature that is oold enough to
make rubber shatter.
why was this important? lf the elastio properties of high-
temperature superoonduotors oould be better understood,
soientists might be able to raise the temperature range at
whioh materials beoome superoonduotors. 1his would
make it possible to oonduot very high ourrent eleotrioity
with essentially no energy loss. Magnetio Levitation (Mag
Lev) trains that 'float' resistanoe-free on a magnetio field
might beoome praotioal and oost effeotive.
with that need in mind, Magnaflux uasar oommeroialized
the teohnology required to allow laboratories to measure
elastio oonstants at very low temperatures. 1heir Ru3peo
system works by exoiting and listening to a material's
natural resonanoes over a wide frequenoy range.
Bells resonate at many different frequenoies
simultaneously, most of whioh are at a muoh higher
frequenoy than the human ear oan hear. 1hese resonant frequenoies, along with the shape of the sample, oan
be used to oharaoterize a number of material properties, suoh as elastio modulus. 1his oapability oomplements
lnstron equipment that measures meohanioal and some elastio properties. lt also provides added information
with very high aoouraoy (up to 0.01) and oan be used over an extensive temperature range.
when using the Ru3peo, researohers disoovered that some samples sang a different tune - or had a different
resonanoe pattern. 1he implioations of this behavior were later understood when automotive produotion parts
were tested and the patterns of known good and known bad parts were oompared. 1his researoh oonfirmed
that the resonanoe of a part oan be used to determine its quality. 0ver the last several years, uasar has
proven that resonanoe testing is far more aoourate at predioting struotural performanoe than other
nondestruotive testing (NU1) methods.
uasar was aoquired in Maroh 2007, making uasar a sister oompany to lnstron. visit uasar to find out more
information on the teohnology behind their produots.

Photo oourtesy of Magnaflux uasar
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Ihe Science 8ehinc Superhumcn SIrengIh
Competition wondering how a single man oan pull a
vehiole 100 feet by hand or squat heavy weights of up to
900 pounds and thought 'how did he do that?' 1here is
no doubt these individuals are extremely strong, but
what's the soienoe behind their 'superhuman strengths'?
National 0eographio has teamed with lnstron to simulate
strong man stunts. lnstron's Lngineered 3olutions 0roup
took on the exoiting ohallenge of designing
oustom fixtures and grips to tear apart a thiok
book, break a padlook and handouffs, bend a
steel bar and a oresoent wrenoh, roll a frying
pan, break a staok of oonorete blooks, and drive
a nail (with bare hands) through a frying pan
and a blook of wood.
Chris Lofft, who films for National 0eographio,
brought the exoitement of ollywood to lnstron
and quiokly gave our lab a movie set look.
Lorenzo Majno, manager of our Lngineering
3olutions 0roup, beoame the lead man for the
produotion. working with his team to perform
the tests, he provided interesting analogies to
explain the test results in layman's terms.
Lofft has high expeotations for the show, whioh is to air this fall. light 3oienoe, a similar National 0eographio
produotion, was ranked #1 by viewers between the ages of 18 to 35 and ranked #8 of all times on the National
0eographio ohannel. Lofft is expeoting the superhuman strength show to appeal to the same demographios.
'1he foroe to mimio these feats was enormous,' said Lofft. '1his is what reassures me that our strong men are
in large part extraordinarily strong.'

Cu:Icmer SIcrie:

121

Fcrmu|c 1 Fccer Gecr: Up WiIh CcrLcn FiLer
By: 3ara Blaok, 1eohnioal Lditor, igh-Performanoe Composites Ray Publishing
0f the numerous forms of motor sports, lormula 1 auto raoing is the most advanoed in terms of both
teohnology and money. 0ne reoent innovation is a oomposite gearbox developed by the B.A.R. onda lormula
1 design team, now the onda Raoing l1 1eam.
1he gearbox enoases the oar's high-grade steel gears that are
responsible for transmitting the engine's rotational power to the rear
wheels. 1he oomposite solution oame about beoause of the laokluster
performanoe of previous aluminum versions. Beoause weight and low
inertia are so oritioal at this level of raoing, aluminum oastings for the
gearbox had to be extremely thin and, as a result, rapidly developed
fatigue oraoks due to imposed vibrational and torsional stresses.
onda tested the new gearbox using lnstron's 5582 (100kN) and
5584 (200kN) floor-standing universal test maohines fitted with
hydraulio grips and an lnstron environmental ohamber.
1he results showed improved tensile and shear strength, along with
inoreased fraoture toughness. onda was oonvinoed the new
oomposite material from Cyteo Lngineered Materials lno. delivered the neoessary strength and toughness for
this demanding applioation and as a result, it speoified the new oomposite formula for not only the gearbox,
but other oomposite parts on the oar as well.
'we oonsider the oomposite gearbox to be the 'jewel in the orown' in terms of our raoe oar design,' says onda
Raoing l1 1eam's deputy teohnioal direotor 0ary 3avage, who holds a PhU in meohanioal engineering and is a
16-year veteran of lormula 1 oar design. 1he gearbox's design has oontinued to evolve from the first 2004
version and is now even lighter and easier to manufaoture, he asserts.
ln the last year, the oomposite formula has been improved to withstand higher temperatures. when oompared
to the original aluminum version, the ourrent 2006 oomposite gearbox is 30 peroent lighter, has 14 peroent
more torsional rigidity and 19 peroent greater lateral stiffness, whioh ultimately leads to better raoing
performanoe.

Photo oourtesy of B.A.R onda lormula 1
Cu:Icmer SIcrie:

122
McIeric|: Ie:Iing Exp|crec in High Schcc|
when you think of vooational olasses in high sohool, what usually oomes to mind? 3hop, auto-meohanios or
oonstruotion olasses? Maybe even home eoonomios? 1hat's not the oase in 1exas. Beginning in 3eptember,
3kyline igh 3ohool in Uallas will be teaohing materials testing to vooational students in the Plastios
1eohnology Program.
Anne Bernhardt, teaoher and engineer, will teaoh material behavior and quality oontrol
testing on plastios to her students, ranging in age from 15 to 19 years old. 1he lessons
are at different levels, with the freshmen running very simple, organized tests and the
upper olassmen devising more oomplex testing protoools that will enoompass the
effeots of statistioal variations.
'l'd like to expose my
students to material
properties and how it affeots things around them in the
oonsumer world,' says Bernhardt. 'l'd like for them to
explore the world around them and know the differenoe
between failure and yield. 1his gives them the ohanoe to
test and learn why and how materials and designs are
seleoted.'
Bernhardt's emphasis is on making this fun and
informative by using more sophistioated equipment for
disoovery in understanding material properties. 1he
students will perform a range of plastio tests using
lnstron's model 3365 with Bluehill 2 software.
Bernhardt's request for federal funding to set up a
materials testing lab is through the Perkins 0rant program
for vooational eduoation.
'1eaohing my students this trade allows them to prep to
get into professions that are beyond plant floor work and
inoludes more oollege bound opportunities. lt opens
another job opportunity for them. l'm enoouraging them to look into engineering,' says Bernhardt.

Photo oourtesy of Anne Bernhardt
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lncex Ly lncu:Iry

12

/cccemic
lrom C02 to 3olid Rook 45
Materials 3oienoe for oung Minds 118
Materials 1esting Lxplored in igh 3ohool 122
Researoh lnstitute Partners with Private 3teel Company 116
1he 1ower of Babel - 1esting the Possibilities 42
/erc:pcce
/erc:pcce cnc Supp|ier:
/uIcmcIive/Iruck/Fci|/ShipLui|cing
lormula 1 Raoer 0ears up with Carbon liber 121
Reoent 1esting unoovers 1itanio's Mystery 44
1he lmpenetrable 3hip 79
1he 3ound of uality 119
volvo Meets the Challenges of igh 3train Rate 1esting 73
8icmecicc|/Mecicc|/Hec|Ihccre
A New 'ip' Material 43
Challenges in 1esting Biomedioal Components 86
Charaoterizing 3pinal Range of Motion for Uevelopment of lmproved Uevioes 74
ow does side loading and speoimen/oomponent misalignment of varying geometries of medioal devioes
and implants affeot my test results? ow should l best address these ohallenges? 87
Lab-grown 1issue 71
Mao0yver-style Leg Braoe May Reduoe Amputations 72
Patient's 0wn 1issue Repairs 1orn Ligaments 75
3imulating Physiologioal Conditions of lmplants 76
3tudy 3hows Uifferenoes in Mesh Materials for ernia Repair 7
1he Best 3olution for 0ripping Low-loroe 3peoimens 32
what testing standards serve as guidelines and requirements for the development and manufaoture of hip
implants? 114
what types of international testing standards are used in the medioal devioe industry? 111
what's lnside our Arteries? 1esting Could Reveal our Risk of 3troke 12
Ccn:umer/lncu:Iric| FrccucI:
3M Lnsures uality under Uifferent 1est Conditions 70
0reen Plastio 1he 0arbage Uump Killer? 5
ow does the meohanioal testing of solar oells oontribute to the 'green energy' initiative? 88
Proteoting 0ur Lnvironment - Reduoing waste in Landfills 39
DepcrImenI cf Ircn:pcrIcIicn
1esting of igh 3trength Rebar 9
1he Bridge to 3afety 11
GcvernmenI/Defen:e
what is 21 ClR Part 11 and how does it affeot me? 112

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