TITLE DESCRIPTION Tinius/Olsen Screw- Driven Straining Frame Equipped with ±25 kn and ±1 kn load cells for static testing at relatively low load levels (calibration: load cells: Jan. 2007, 100SC: Nov. 2007). A long travel extensometer is attached to the machine for measuring a large range of specimen displacements. Zwick 50 kn Screw- Driven Straining Frame 2 This machine has a ±50 kn load capacity and is used for static tensile/compression testing. The machine can be fitted with wedge or bolt-tightened grips. An optical extensometer is attached to the machine for measuring a large range of specimen displacements. Zwick 100 kn Hydraulic Universal Straining Frame This machine has a ±100 kn load capacity and is used for static tensile/compression testing (calibration: Jan. 2004). The machine is also capable of low frequency cyclic testing. An auxiliary 10kN load-cell can be attached for lower load level testing. The machine is equipped with hydraulic grips designed specifically for use testing fibre-reinforced composite materials. Zwick 300 kn Hydraulic Universal Straining Frame This machine has a ±300 kn load capacity and is used for static and dynamic tensile/compression testing (calibration: Jan. 2004). The machine can be used for low to medium frequency cyclic testing. A temperature chamber can be fitted for testing of materials from -60 C to 250 C. The machine is equipped with hydraulic grips designed specifically for use testing fibrereinforced composite materials. Zwick HTM 5020 Hydraulic High-Speed The Zwick HTM 5020 Hydraulic High-Speed Testing Machine (purchased in 2008, 410K) is equipped with a ±50 kn piezo-
Testing Machine 2 electric load-cell and is capable of testing materials at velocities up to 20m/s. The machine has a data acquisition system capable of capturing data from load-cells, strain gauges etc at 10 MHz. A high-speed punch jig for high-speed impact/ indentation testing of plastics (per ISO 6603-2: 1989) can be fitted. Drop tower This is an in-house designed and manufactured drop tower for low speed impact testing of composite plates or similar flat plate specimens. The machine is instrumented to measure the impactor velocity at impact. In addition, the impactor is instrumented with a piezo-electric load-cell to measure the impact load. It also has an anti-rebound unit to prevent multiple impacts. Photron SA1.1 High- Speed Camera System 2 The Photron SA1.1 camera system is capable of capturing highspeed events at frame rates up to 675,000 frames per second. Maximum camera resolution is 1 megapixel. When used in conjunction with LAVision StrainMaster digital image correlation (DIC) software, test specimen displacements/strains can be determined. Digital Image Correlation camera and A low speed progressive scan TM-2040GE camera is available for DIC work not requiring very high rate capacity in 2D. When used
software systems, 2D 2 & 3D 3 in conjunction with LAVision StrainMaster digital image correlation (DIC) software, test specimen displacements/strains can be determined. Local derivative calculations give the strain tensors across the entire surface, and the system provides a virtual strain gauge which can be placed anywhere on the sample surface, giving extremely accurate strain data. A second, more advanced system Strainmaster portable system for 3D strain and deformation analysis, consisting of 2x Imager E-lite 2M cameras including 50mm/f2.8 c-mount lenses, 1600 x 1200 pixel spatial resolution. Two Measurements Group System 6000 Data Acquisition Units 1 The System 6000 is an instrument data acquisition unit used to measure output from strain gauges, thermocouples, load-cells, extensometers and other displacement/load sensing devices. When two units are multiplexed, the system has 40 channels. Data capture speeds of up to 10kHz are possible. The system can be used in conjunction with each of the CRC s testing machines. Measurements Group P-3500 The P-3500 is a precision electronic system used for calibration of strain gauges and strain gauge devices. National Instruments (NI) Data Acquisition The NI system is a general-purpose data acquisition system build around NI Labview software. The system has 32 channels and can
System be used in conjunction with a variety of instrumentation, including strain gauges, extensometers, thermocouples etc. Reflection polariscope The reflection polariscope is used for full-field strain analysis of objects subjected to loading and manufactured from or coated with photoelastic material. The CRC s polariscope is equipped with a null-balance compensator for easy fringe pattern identification. Strain separation can also be carried out using photostress separator gauges and a Measurements Group Model 330 interface module. Testing Instrumentation A wide variety of test instrumentation is available in the CRC inventory for testing of materials, including axial extensometers, biaxial extensometers, crack-opening displacement gauges, displacement transducers, thermocouples and strain gauges (most extensometry devices are new and were calibrated in Aug. 2008). The suite also includes a digital electronic extensometer calibrator, Model 3590 from Epsilon Technology Corp. Testing Jigs and Fixtures A wide variety of standard and specialised test jigs and fixtures are available for use in conjunction with CRC testing machines, including a combined loading compression rig for composite
materials (ASTM D6641), an Iosipescu shear test rig (ASTM D5379), ASTM peel tester and a Mode I Mode II interlaminar fracture toughness jig (ASTM D6671).