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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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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