How much snow is too much snow?

There has been an unprecedented amount of snow in the month of January – 49 of the 50 US States have snow on the ground.  Snow accumulating on your roof can be a concern.

More than any other exterior surface, a building's roof is the one that is exposed to the most impacts from weather-driven objects such as ice and tree debris.  Roof tiles cracked by impacting objects will allow moisture to penetrate and decay the underlying structure leading to costly repairs.


We were recently asked by a supplier of synthetic roofing tiles to assist them in choosing an instrumented impact system to perform low energy tests to ascertain how much damage may occur to their products.  The customer supplied us with several samples of two different styles of tiles in order to establish the energy levels at which incipient damage begins to occur in the tiles supplied.

If you’re faced with similar challenges please read the details of our testing solution.

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Self-tightening Wedge Grips are Best for Testing Thin Metal Specimens

Screw side-action grips open the door for specimen slippage, high standard deviation, and low throughput. Experience tells us that self-tightening wedge grips are best for metal applications because they offer improvement in all of these areas— do not require any tools, and are easy to use.




Once the specimen is inserted between the jaw faces, manually turn the lever to close the wedged faces and apply only a slight amount of clamping force. This is sufficient enough for the jaw faces to pull on the specimen once the test is started. The clamping force increases as the specimen is pulled, eliminating jaw breaks that are normally caused by high initial clamping force.

The exact model of grips and faces often requires a discussion about the material you’re testing. Maybe you have tips and tricks of your own? Success with other types of grips or methods? Please tell us!
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Capturing Testing in Action

We find that many of our customers are faced with questions like “How did this specimen fail?” and “Why does one result look different than the others?” They often need to verify that the test was conducted and that it was conducted properly.  The answer to many of these questions is to use a camera to record the specimen during testing.  Video recording provides R&D engineers, lab managers, university professors, and students’ point-by-point playback of the specimen throughout the test. This source of invaluable information captures failure analysis and gives a better understanding of materials science.


View TestCam in action


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Is calibrating my tensile tester necessary?

Yes. You need to be sure that the results you get are correct. It would be great to save time and money by not having to calibrate your system, but even the very best quality equipment can be affected by external influences, which could affect the accuracy of the system. If you want to be confident in your results, have your machine verified and calibrated on a regular basis. In fact, technical organizations such as ASTM require the calibration of a testing system once per year. Under certain circumstances there can also be liability concerns if your system is not verified in accordance with industry standards. Read more

Green Plastic: The Garbage Dump Killer?

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a colossal floating garbage dump in the northern Pacific Ocean. Roughly the size of Texas, it lies between Hawaii and San Francisco. It contains about 3.5 million tons of trash, much of it plastic--shoes, toys, bags, pacifiers, wrappers, toothbrushes, and bottles are only part of what can be found in this dump. A similar dump exists in the Atlantic Ocean.

The global buildup of plastic, both in the sea and along every shoreline, is an environmental nightmare. Most commercial plastics are produced from petroleum. These plastics degrade into small pieces so plastic waste builds up and can exist for many years. A great deal of research has taken place to develop biodegradable plastics that break down with exposure to sunlight, water or dampness, bacteria, enzymes, and so on.


Instron customer Metabolix, Inc. has been researching for two decades to develop a commercially viable biodegradable plastic from corn sugar and has recently made the leap from research to commercial production with their product Mirel^™. One of the first Mirel products is the injection molding grade used to make 60% of the pen components for the $1.25 Biodegradable Paper Mate® pen made by Newell Rubbermaid.

As with any new material, its testing requirements have been extensive. Its product data sheet gives mechanical test specifications for tensile strength, elongation at break, flexural modulus, flexural strength, notched IZOD impact values, and melt flow figures, using ASTM and ISO standards.

Other potential applications are cups, food containers, beverage cartons, razor handles, brushes, applicators, cell phones, erosion control netting, plant pots, and plant clips.

Read full TechNotes Article

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I want to prove my test machine is giving good results – how do I do it?

The best way to prove your results is to verify them against a known, traceable standard. Using international standards and devices that can be traced back to a national standards laboratory can give you confidence in your results. Read more

Welcome to our New Instron Community Blog

Welcome to our new Instron Community Blog hosted by Instron. We are very excited about our new venture into the blogosphere. We have so much information to share with you and interesting stories to tell and are anxious to provide you with a platform to share your stories and experiences with us.

Instron Community is a compilation of the freshest, brightest, most-talented minds that Instron has to offer. The world of materials science is so vast and encompasses the broadest range of industries, materials, and challenges that no one person can possibly possess all the knowledge required to be the resident expert – or master of materials science. It takes a small army behind the scenes collaborating and sharing technical know-how, experiences, and ideas to present the most accurate, relevant, and timely information to you – our readers.

We invite you to tell us who you are, share your stories and talk about your experiences. Join the Instron Community. Read more