Tensile Testing Basics

MTS Application Engineer, Addie Clarke, demonstrates a simple tensile test.

[americanidle]

Great video! A couple small constructive criticisms for increased accuracy, these are in exact chronological order, these recommendations are for Testing in Tension in accordance with ASTM E4, ASTM E4, and ASTM E83 for Calibration and ASTM E8 for testing and good practice in accordance with industry norms.

1) The test specimen shall be hung from the top grip, leaving the bottom disconnected.
2) Tare the loadcell/force channel.
3) Connect the lower grip to the specimen.
4) Install the extensometer.
5) Remove the Gage Length setting zero pin or release the zero mechanism.
6) Zero the extensometer/strain channel.
7) Zero the crosshead/displacement encoder channel.
8) Apply desired preload.
9) Begin test.

This method ensures that the loadcell and test specimen are only experiencing applied forces which is arguably the goal. Additionally this insures the stress/strain of preload is captured by the extensometer, this means your strain reading won't start at zero it will be offset by whatever amount of strain the preload imparts on the specimen/extensometer. But that's okay because preload is generally designed to make up for mechanical slop of the fixtures that you don't want in the force graph as it's generally non linear, but it is helpful to at least include the extra strain as a zero offset for informational purposes. This method also makes sure to capture any absolute crosshead displacement that may be lost if you are zeroing the crosshead after preload. Again this will cause a zero offset at the starting position of the test graph but that is okay since it does capture some informational data without plotting the nonlinearities on the graph. That being said, none of this is a deal breaker or risks data legitimacy and the way MTS is performing this test is completely valid and in line with industry standards/specs but what I am recommending just gets you that extra 0.1% of accuracy and can reduce your total expanded uncertainty. But MTS is a well regarded company who knows their stuff and follows the specs so I am in no way saying this is wrong because it isn't, I'm just recommending some additional steps to increase accuracy. Thanks for the video!

[seandent]

What size should the test specimen be?

[girija]

Hi, nice video. Can u please tell what is the criteria to select the type of sample for composite materials for tensile testing? Material is Polymer matrix embedded with solid particles of 80 micron size.

[муратбакиров-жя]

Hi, we waiting from you similar video for fatigue testing and for fracture mechanics testing !

[dagdukailkar]

More info about physical properties of steel TMT bar

[berkluleci]

Can someone enlighten me about A50 and A80 specimens? what is the effect of the dimensions of the specimen to the stress-strain chart?

[Best_yet_is__come]

Very informant. I want one of those in my garage.

[engineerbhaskar]

please tell how can i measure heat affected zone of weld specimen, practical session of weld related specimen

[dasansiro]

You did not remove the extensometer until the specimen fracture, will the extensometer be broken if operate like this?

[jmvillas]

Where are you located? I need to test my fabrics. Thank you

[муратбакиров-жя]

Hi, with pleasure I watched video. Shortly and dynamically! We regularly organize training courses for engineers working at Nuclear power plants. On these courses we carry out laboratory works on test of materials. In laboratory works we use two cars of MTS (Landmark and Kriterion). Good idea to make similar short movies for our courses! In Crisis time such videos will allow us to organize courses remotely, without loss of interest of students. Thanks to the beautiful girl! Dr.Bakirov

[yigitcan]

Tensile strength and tensile stress mean the same thing, don't they? 0:25

[Justin-zwhx]

ten sail? I only heard people say ten-sl, I have a degree in mechanical engineering.