The Testing Times

This grip is designed to meet the very strict guidelines set within the ASTM D143 standard. I have mentioned this standard before, it is one of the most demanding standards available for wood specimens. One of the most important tests when it comes to the structure of wood is how it reacts in tension. As wood can be very strong in tension it's is necessary to 'profile' the sample (cut the wood into a specific shape) so that the region undergoing test is uniform, in the middle and weaker than the grip or piece of wood the grip is holding onto. It also needs to be smaller to allow an extensometer to be added to measure the small changes in the length of the sample. This grip is essentially self-aligning, the sample slotting into the two fingers.

The Standard ASTM D143 outlines several methods for testing wood. As a building material it is essential to understand the structural integrity of timber this is what ASTM D143 is designed to find out… This is a heavy duty application (wood is an interesting substance in compressing and the jaws can get ‘gummed-up’ with the wood sap) and so for this particular application a Tinius Olsen H75KS system is used. The S0971 is designed to perform one of the tests in the ASTM D143 stable. It shears the wood between two vertically offset, horizontally parallel faces. This system uses a self adjusting blade to shear the sample against another supporting blade that is offset 3mm from the main cutting face. This distance can be adjusted using a simple shim. This simple modification could allow for future testing in these standards... ASTM D 143-94, ASTM D 905-98, ISO 6238 2001, JIS K 6802-1973, JIS Z 2117-1977, BS 373: 1957 and JAS 601-1974 testing standards. Features: This system uses a qui