The Testing Times

Many of the world’s major seat belt manufacturers use Tinius Olsen tensile testing machines to test seat belts and associated components to prove strength and performance. Tinius Olsen’s H100K-U tensile testing machine along with test specific grips HT43 proves to be the best solution for testing seat belts complying with international standards such as ASTM D6775 and BS 3254.  Seat belts store a great amount of energy before breaking, hence the break is violent. One of the nice feature of Tinius Olsen machines is TO offers a range of safety screens compatible with its U series tensile machines to protect users and contain component fragments. And the Horizon software produces the output graph (force against displacement) which gives a graphical representation of the seat belt performance during the test.   Quick Facts: A typical seat belt in a modern car can withstand a tensile breaking force in access of 2.5 tons (25kN)

These grips are used to test seat belts and webbing up to 100mm thick. seat belts have interesting properties, they have to cushion the shock of a crash without injuring the passenger of the car at low speed stops. In a collision it has a precise elastic limit, meaning that it stretching slightly to diffuse the shock, goes beyond its elastic limit, becomes plastic then holding it's passenger without breaking, there is a great deal of force involved in this process (which is why these grips are rated to 100 kN ...) The testing can be quite explosive as the belt stores a great deal of energy before failing. By exerting a tensile force on the belt it is possible to see how it will behave. One of the important features of this grip is that it is self tightening. The specimen is feed through the grips in a specific manner as not to damage the belt. A damaged belt can dramatically affect its ability to protect the passenger, and once it has been stretched to it's elastic limit and