Measurement Methods
Measurement possibilities
We provide a wide range of measurement methods
Analyze your products, parts or materials with a varying mechanical testing options. From measuring tensile strength of a plastic part to measuring the viscosity of your adhesive.
Mechanical analysis
Tension
Tensile testing, or a pull test, stretches a sample until it breaks to assess its mechanical properties, including tensile strength and elasticity. Using standardized specimens, such as dog-bone shapes, the test generates a stress-strain curve that reveals the material’s ductility and stiffness. This information guides engineers in material selection and design, ensuring safety and performance.
Compression
Compression testing applies controlled pressure on a sample until failure or set deformation. This test gauges a material’s compressive strength, elasticity, and deformation capacity. Using a typically cylindrical or cubical specimen between two plates, the resulting stress-strain curve reveals the material’s resilience and stiffness. Such data is critical for engineers and designers in choosing materials for load-bearing applications.
Shear
Shear testing subjects a material to lateral forces to assess its shear strength and modulus. In the test, a specimen is held stationary on one side while the other side is moved sideways. The gathered force vs. displacement data reveals the material’s rigidity and resistance to sideways deformation. This information is essential for selecting materials used in applications facing twisting or lateral stresses, ensuring safety and performance.
Bending
Bending tests, or flexural tests, evaluate a material’s resistance to bending, measuring key properties like flexural strength and modulus. During the test, a beam-shaped specimen is supported at both ends and loaded in the middle, causing it to bend. This force vs. deflection data offers insights into the material’s bending resilience and stiffness. Such information is crucial for engineers and designers when picking materials for components that will encounter bending loads, ensuring both stability and longevity.
Rheological analysis
Viscosity
The resistance that a fluid has to flowing and shearing is known as the viscosity. The viscosity of a fluid can be determined at varying shear rates to determine whether the increase in viscosity is linear with shear rate, or whether it has shear-thinning or shear-thickening properties. Knowing the viscosity at varying shear rates allows you to optimize your dispensing, spraying, lubrication and mixing processes and can be used as a quality control measure.
Dynamic measurements
When a fluid is put under dynamic or oscilating shear conditions the storage-(G’) and loss-modulus (G”) can be determined, which correspond to the elastic and viscous component of its flow resisting properties. The thixotropy of a fluid can also be determined, which is a measure of how quickly the material recovers its viscosity and shape after being subjected to shear.
Yield Stress
Some thick fluids (e.g. gels) will not flow until a certain force is applied. This force is also known as the yield stress.
Relaxation
This test involves applying a constant strain or deformation and then monitoring how the stress or force required to maintain that deformation decreases over time.
Sweep
To determine the effects of different shear factors on the flow properties, sweep measurements can be done. Examples of sweep measurements are temperature sweep, frequency sweep, time sweep and amplitude sweep.