The Testing Times

Shortly after the end of the Civil War, with industrialisation gaining momentum in the United States and new construction sprouting up everywhere, there was an increasing need for better ways to test the materials used in machinery, in buildings, and elsewhere.  Engineers decried the lack of reliable information on the properties of materials; “The art of construction….is involved in mystery and obscurity,” noted Van Nostrand’s Engineering Magazine. “The knowledge of materials is at present absolutely empirical. Before the constructor makes use of either a new material, or an old one in a new form, the only safe method is to experiment.” Without some means of testing the strength of materials before their use, however, these experimental results were likely to take the form of explosions or building collapses. From the 1850’s on, various devices for testing materials had been developed, but the goal of a truly universal testing machine proved elusive until 1880, when an u

Our impressive 10 ton tension compression materials testing machine model 100ST is now available with a wider test area between the upright columns – 1000mm with no loss of performance in its impressive specification i.e. single calibrated force range 2000N to 100,000N with an accuracy of ± 0.2%, frame stiffness 460 kN/mm, test speed of 1 µ m up to 500mm/min, internal data processing rate of 168 MHz …….

One of our most reliable hardness testing systems is the system of choice for one of India’s leading manufacturers of rail wheels, axles and wheel sets.  The Rail Wheel Factory, formerly the Wheel and Axle Plant of Bangalore in the Karnataka region of the country, has utilised a Tinius Olsen Air-o-Brinell hardness tester for a great many years and is one of the most popular testing systems the company has produced. The A-o-B is configured into the RWF assembly line so there was no need to set up tests separately, with wheels passing the assembly line to be tested at point. They are then rolled over to another section of the assembly for completion. As a part of Tinius Olsen’s continuing service, we offered RWF one our new generation FH13 hardness testers (Brinell Head only) as an up-grade but the A-o-B has proven such an      efficient and economical solution, the company decided to up-grade/refurbish this machine instead. RWF is a state of the art factory meeti

I just saw this in our engineering – A miniature low force self aligning attachment required for use when applying a compressive proving force to test the performance of epi pen medical devices. Max. force 133N Platen diameter 25mm  The self aligning action of the attachment ensures the compressive force is applied axially to the device under test avoiding extraneous shear forces. And what I particularly like about this actual attachment is it was 3D model one minute, 3D printed the next and then on the testing machine being used …… Minatare self aligning attachment in situ on a 1kN materials testing machine frame, mounted off the load cell force measuring device above it.