The Testing Times

The ASTM D429-03 69.1 (Method G) is for testing the adhesion properties of rubber. The rubber is pre-formed onto 3 metal plugs. this gives a double rubber sandwich that can then be tested. This attachment holds the metal components of the sandwich and allows a double shear test to be performed.

A range of faces make the 123-001 Textile Grip an adaptable and very useful attachment. Textiles can be a very hard materials to test, they can be very strong in tension, and unless ripped, near impossible to break… it can hold large amounts of energy and can break with a bang! The grips that hold fabric tend to be hydraulic and have special grip arrangements because of this property. There are 3 types of face of the jaws. Plain, Hatched and Grab each have a specific set of materials that they can be used with, each with singular benefits. The 123-001 holds the sample between two 250mm wide faces, these come together with a clamping force and the test can then be performed. If you're interested in this or other Textile testing, please contact Sylvia Hillier or go here: http://www.testingtextiles.com/

As mentioned before, we do a wide range of platens (two parallel plates that are used to compress the test specimen...) Often the sample is uneven or has protruding features, the fixed platens are less effectual in this instance. In cases like this, self aligning platens distribute the load across the sample by increasing the contact area. (The arrows show movement...)

It's really nice to be able to show you some pictures of the finished products, rather than renderings. The attachments, once checked, go straight to the customer... (so we don't often get time for pictures). This test is for Bituminous Materials, like tar -or- polymer modified asphalt (depending on you professional inclinations). The ASTM Standard calls for a very precise procedure that includes warming and filling a 3oz. pot with the sample and lowering a semi-sphere into it. This is then extracted and the forces required measured... It's quite a demanding test for the equipment as the sample material is quite, well, sticky... so we've made the parts that would come in contact with the sample out of stainless steel, this should allow the parts to be cleaned without having to worry about affecting any surface finish.

This attachment consists of a bath and holder to test the tension applied to a section of artificial skin. The sample is tiny, only 0.508 mm in section. The sensitivity of the system allows for small samples to be tested. Testing Artificial Skin has some unique requirements, the sample needs to be kept moist, in this case there is a simple saline bath. The sample is lowered into the bath and then can be tested...

This attachment simply pulls nails and staples from wood, as you could imagine it is very important to know and understand the way in which fixings behave in wood. As wood is a natural substance each plank is different from the next, and it is the job of BS EN 1382:1999 to ensure that fixings (nails and staples in this case) that are a known quantity behave the same way in different kinds of wood (nails and staples are produced on mass and so are quantifiable). There are two attachments, one for nails and one for staples. It can hold a variety of nails and staples due to the taper on the attachments. The lower component holds the wood, it is common with ASTM D1037 & D1761 Standards which are similar wood tests.

We've been thinking, there are lots of great resources and information regarding testing machines and attachments, but we don't want to put them all on here. It might get a little cluttered... Our colleagues at Tinius Olsen have put together a good list of resources on the Tinius Olsen Homepage. The direct link to the list can be found here