Material Fatigue Characterisation

Whether it's higher performance, lower weight, or an optimized manufacturing process, increasing product efficiency or durability starts with the selection of the appropriate materials.

From design data for FEA fatigue analysis to consistent material quality assurance, the HBK Advanced Materials Characterization & Test facility (AMCT) offers a large variety of services to assess these parameters and increase confidence in your design.

The choice of material plays a vital role across many industries, as manufacturers seek to reduce weight and cost of vehicles, machines, constructions and devices or consumer good in general.

As part of the structural integrity domain, the mechanical characteristics of new material components, such as metal, alloy, concrete, polymers, ceramic, moulded structural plastics or advanced composites, are essential to achieving optimal safety, durability, flexibility, strength-to-weight ratio, performance, reliability and cost-effectiveness.

Scientists and engineers in product design, simulation and testing rely on material properties such as stress, strain, tensile modulus, and Poisson’s ratio. Accurate material property data prevents failures in the field and anticipates issues before they arise.

Thus, material properties testing is a critical step in understanding how your material will perform under a wide variety of stresses. It is commonly performed by testing machines, that meet the many ISO and ASTM standards. However, adding additional sensors is highly recommended as it helps to get an even better and more precise understanding of structural characteristics.

Reliable Results: Adding HBK Measurement Equipment

In material testing, highly accurate sensor data helps to get a better and more precise picture of material properties and gives you the extra plus of getting deeper test data. Integrating QuantumX allows overlaying additional sensor data sources and delivers precise and reliable results.

The integration of an HBK measurement chain into material testing systems such as MTS, Instron or ZwickRoell is easy. You can directly integrate the unit:

• In real-time via EtherCAT, PROFINET or voltage inputs
• Via PC software integration, measuring with catman Easy in parallel fusing data file
• Directly into the test machine software via simple API commands

Parallel installation enables you to also get sensor data while the material testing machine is running. Measurements on various places on the coupon and on any material are possible. You receive precise data about the material´s behaviour according to loads, strain, temperature and whatever you want to measure.

Want to see an example? Zwick Roell integrated QuantumX and catman into their testing system. Read more

HBK also offers material testing as a service , delivering fully characterized and interpreted material parameters ready for use in mechanical FEA or CAE-based fatigue analysis using  nCodeDesignLife .