TENSILE TESTING-Lab 3

Test specimens of

6061-T6 aluminum
1018 cold rolled steel
PMMA (polymethymethacrylate) (cast acrylic)
Polycarbonate (PC)

ASTM E8/E8M testing standards

Tensile test machine

INSTRON 5585H Series Floor Model Testing Systems

Universal Testing Equipments

Universal testing machines first became

widely used from 1900 to 1920.
Used to apply forces to specimens
Vary from simple devices to complex systems
that are controlled by computer
Tensile Testing loads are applied:

Mechanically with screw drives

Hydraulically with pressurized oil/piston

Screw-Driven Machines

Mechanical screw driven machine

Rotation of large threaded screws moves the
crosshead that applies a force to the
specimen
Before load cells, force was measured by
weighing the system (see Dowling Figure
4.3)
High accuracy
High cost

Hydraulic Piston

Preferred because of their higher load capacities,

lower cost and accuracy (with the introduction of
digital control loops)
Applied by using the pressure oil pumped into
hydraulic piston
Before load cell force was measured by The
pressure of the oil in the system.
Oil in the cylinder is controlled by means of coarse
and fine load and unload valves

Instron

Established in 1946, Boston, MA

Owners: Harold Hindman & George Burr Both MIT
graduates
Decided to fulfill the need for machines used for
testing new materials used in parachutes.
Designed first material testing machine based on
strain gauge load cells and servo control
@1958 MTS Systems Corp used transistor technology
and closed-loop concepts for the first time

Instron types (screw driven)

Single column

Dual column

Floor column

Instron 5585H Series Floor Model

Testing
for tension, compression, bending and
component testing
250kN (56,250 lbf) capacity
0.001-500 mm/min (0.00004 20
in/min) speed range
1256 mm x 575 mm (49.4 in x 22.6 in)
test area
Bluehill 2 Software compatibility

Testing Machine & specimen

Dogbone specimen

load cell

grip
universal
joint

Load train
fillet

grip
Load frame

gage section
grip

specimen
grip
universal
joint

Load train

Clip-on extensomete
crosshead
LVDT

Load Cell and Extensometer

Both based on strain-gaged beam with mounted

wheat-stone bridge
Load signals actually strain readings calibrated to
appropriate loading levels
UW ME Instron is capable of 250kN
Clip-on axial and transverse extensometers
Both send analog electronic signals to Instron
control tower
Bluehill (software) is used to retrieve the data

LVDT

linear variable differential transformer

a type of electrical transformer used for
measuring linear displacement
RVDT is the rotary variable differential transformer
to measure angular displacement