Principle of Tensile Testing

A materials test subjecting a specimen of a material or component to forces either:-

• Tensile (pull)
• Compressive (crushing)
• Bending
• Torsion (Twisting)
• Frictional
• Peel resistance

The testing machine automatically measures the forces applied and the resulting behaviour of the material. Physical properties can be derived from the Load / displacement or Stress / Strain curves:-

• Yield Strength / Yield Point (YS)
• Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS)
• Youngs Modulus
• Brittleness
• Ductility

Main Features of Laboratory’s Tensile Testing Capabilities

Instrument - Instron 4301 tensile test machine

• Load cells of 10N, 100N, 1 kN, 5 kN
• System has Instron Series 9 software for the automatic collection and display of stress/strain data, with facilities for post processing and the replay of tensile tests. The software allows methods to be set up and stored for instant recall. Using the software it is possible to rerun a sample using a new set of data analysis parameters. The Instron 4301 can apply loads up to 5kN, at 0.5mm/min to 500mm/min, has a positional accuracy of 0.1 mm, and a repeatability of 0.05mm. A Crosshead travel of 970mm can accommodate most samples.

Typical Applications of Tensile Testing

Suitable for the mechanical testing of

• Plastics
• Rubbers
• Metal
• Engineering Ceramics
• Composite Materials (fibre glass or carbon fibre reinforced plastics)
• Parts and components.

Our site expert on Tensile Testing is Alan Wicks.