Making an Impact at ANTEC

Were you at ANTEC? Maybe you stopped by and talked with one of our specialists or saw our systems in action? If not, then take a minute to watch this video of Ben Twombley performing an impact test on refrigerator panels to ASTM and Charpy standards.

Read more

Strain Gauge is Set Up ... Now What?

Last week, Lorenzo showed us how to set up the strain gauge on our testing system. Today, Chirag Patel goes a step further and shows how to easily calibrate the strain gauges for testing ....

Read more

Reaching Out and Teaching

Supporting the community can come in all different packages: helping to feed the hungry, participating in coat drives to keep others warm in the winter, or sharing trained skills to those who haven't had the same opportunities. All are of equal importance and it's sharing computer skills with the community that currently has our C3 Committee buzzing around the office!



"Sharing some of my computer knowledge with our students - the parents and grandparents of the Balch School - has been a positive experience," says Phil Warren, Instron Database Administrator. "We find that people tend to take basic computer skills for granted, forgetting that many have not been exposed to computers. We have a very attentive and dedicated group of students each week, and our volunteers enjoy watching and helping the students with labs based on the current instruction. This really is a great opportunity - for everyone involved." Read more

Alignment - Let's Get Down to Business ....

Surprising how much confusion exists about alignment - what it is, what to do...

We just did a webinar on this subject (as well as strain gages and some software features), and today I visited a customer to discuss it. It surprises me that there are some basic concepts that are not well understood. Let's see if I can summarize:

HOW WELL IS MY SYSTEM ALIGNED?
Simple - put in a sample that matches what you are testing and has 8 or 12 gages on it, and pull on it. ASTM E1012 tells you all about how to do it. BUT: E1012 only tells you HOW to measure, and does not require anything but a single pull. Thoroughness, however, suggests (but does not require, YET) that you reverse the alignment cell and do it AGAIN.

NOW I KNOW MY BENDING % (per E1012) - NOW WHAT?
OK. So now you know that you have X% bending. E1012 does NOT have upper and lower acceptable bounds. That's where NADCAP comes in: AC7101 (metals) and AC7122 (composites) have upper and lower acceptable bending ranges. If you are out of those, you do not meet NADCAP. Furthermore, the AC requirements include procedures that SUPERCEDE E1012 - so single pulls may not be acceptable. AC7122 requires FOUR: straight up, reverse, upside down, reverse. All have to pass, in sequence.
AC7101 requires less that 10% bending for ductile metals, static tests; AC7122 is 8% for all composites...

OK SO I DON'T PASS - NOW WHAT!?
OK. Now you need to be able to ADJUST your alignment. The old way is with shims, moving things, re-preloading the load string, and basic fiddling until your system is aligned. Modern times point to products like AlignPro.

PHEW!
Now you can adjust, re-measure, and pass your alignment requirements...

I missed a hundred details, perhaps more, but these are the basic concepts you need to know/understand: Measuring bending/alignment (ASTM E1012), meeting requirements (NADCAP AC7101, AC7122), and adjusting your test machine to meet these requirements.

Note that you do not need Instron for all of this - of course we are glad to help (for a fee, sorry!), but all this can be done on your own...

Have a great day and may your stars be Aligned.
How about them BRUINS?! Read more

Doing it a New Way: Strain Gauge Testing for Composites

There was tons of composite talk going on at the WindPower 2011 and we were there to participate. Watch as Lorenzo Majno shows just how easy it is to set up a strain gauge on an electromechanical testing system without the need for an external single-conditioning box.

Read more

Interesting Medical Facts

Changes and new findings in the medical world help shape the various testing applications and systems or accessories needed to test medical packaging, lab-grown tissues, various materials that replace existing joints, and more. In light of this, we thought we'd share some interesting medical-related facts with our readers.

•Out of the 6.8 billion people in our world, nearly 40% live in either China or India
•The average global life expectancy in 1910 was 39 years; in 2010, it was 68 years
•The #1 work loss injury/explanation in the world is lower back pain
•The average human heart beats 400 million times in 10 years
•In 2010, more than 1,000,000 stents were placed in coronary arteries within the US alone Read more

Webinar: Getting Started with Composites Testing

Are you looking for tools and resources to solve your composite testing challenges? Well, look no further; we're here to help. Join us for a complimentary webinar on June 9th at 11 AM (EST).

Our Composite Experts will cover:
•Measuring and eliminating specimen misalignment
•Closely monitoring strain using a direct strain gauge measurement set up
•Taking advantage of software features to better monitor and control tests
•Utilizing built-in methods when testing to ASTM and ISO standards

Sound interesting? Register here. Read more

Are You Testing to the Most Updated Standard?

Over the past decades there have been many advances and changes in the medical device & biomaterials world. And as mechanical testing standards are regularly revised or changed, it is imperative to stay up to date with these standards, especially if … they are part of regulatory compliance. View a selection of standards that have been recently updated.

Read more