MECHANICAL TESTING

Various tests:

• Tensile Test

A tensile test, also known as a tension test, tests a material’s strength. It’s a mechanical test where a pulling force is applied to a material from both sides until the sample changes its shape or breaks. It’s is a common and important test that provides a variety of information about the material being tested, including the elongation, yield point, tensile strength, and ultimate strength of the material. Tensile tests are commonly performed on substances such as metals, plastics, wood, and ceramics.

Tensile testing systems use a number of different units of measurement. The International System of Units, or SI, recommends the use of either Pascals (Pa) or Newtons per square meter (N/m²) for describing tensile strength. In the United States, many engineers measure tensile strength in kilo-pound per square inch (KSI).

• Tensile test with electronic extensometer

This instrument is to be used on Tensile or Universal testing machines to find out Proof stress & Young’s modulus values. In case of many brittle materials such as high carbon steels, alloy steels, light aluminium & magnesium alloys, it is difficult to get yield values. For such materials stress corresponding to a certain allowable amount of plastic deformation is termed as proof stress say 0.1% or 0.2% proof stress. The measuring range is up to 5mm & resolution is 0.001mm.

• Tensile testing at elevated temperature.

High temperature tensile testing is a procedure to test the properties of a material at above room temperature. It will determine the following parameters:

• Tensile strength (breaking strength)
• Yield strength
• Elongation
• Reduction of area

Specialist testing, measurement and control equipment is required to perform this test.
The results of such a test will provide a good indication of the static load bearing capacity of the material and therefore establishes the suitability of a material for its intended purpose.

• Tensile test on Tor steel Bars

TOR steel is one of the best grade of steel used in concrete reinforced. It’s a kind of high adherence steel. Other types of steel are used for less resistance concrete. Thermo mechanically Treated (TMT) bars are a type of corrosion resistant steel reinforcing bar used in concrete construction.

• Bend test on plates

A bend test is used to determine whether a specific piece of metal in question will break or fracture under pressure. This is important in the construction of any project using metal, otherwise the building or the item being made could collapse from the immense pressure exerted on it. Every piece of metal made cannot be tested, therefore certain pieces are tested and if they pass, the other pieces are made using the same process. The results of a bend test are reported differently depending on the type of material tested. There is no standard method for reporting the durability that applies to all materials, rather each group has its own set by which it is judged and compared to other metals in that group.

The bend test is essentially measuring a metal’s ductility. Ductility defines how easily a metal can bend without breaking. The higher the ductility of a metal, the more it can bend without breaking or becoming deformed from its original shape. This is important because certain metals must handle pressure without snapping yet still be ductile enough to bend slightly and not lose their support or shape. Copper and steel are two metals that have a high ductility and do well under pressure.

• Bend test on pipes

Bending tests are carried out to ensure that a metal has sufficient ductility to stand bending without fracturing. A standard specimen is bent through a specified arc and in the case of strip, the direction of grain flow is noted and whether the bend is with or across the grain.

• Bend Test on Tor steel

The purpose is to make certain the weld and the base metal are properly fused, and that the weld metal and the heat affected zone (HAZ) have appropriate mechanical properties

• Re-Bend test on Tor steel

The purpose of re-bend test is to measure the effect of strain ageing on steel. Strain ageing has embrittlement effect which takes place after cold deformation by diffusion of nitrogen in steel. Hence, there is limitation stated in some design codes to restrict the nitrogen content of steel to 0.012%.

• Nick Break Test

The NICK-BREAK TEST is useful for determining the internal quality of the weld metal. This test reveals various internal defects (if present), such as slag inclusions,  gas  pockets,  lack of  fusion,  and  oxidized  or burned metal. To accomplish the nick-break test for checking a butt weld, you must first flame-cut the test specimens from a sample weld.

MECHANICAL TESTING

Various tests:

• Tensile Test

A tensile test, also known as a tension test, tests a material’s strength. It’s a mechanical test where a pulling force is applied to a material from both sides until the sample changes its shape or breaks. It’s is a common and important test that provides a variety of information about the material being tested, including the elongation, yield point, tensile strength, and ultimate strength of the material. Tensile tests are commonly performed on substances such as metals, plastics, wood, and ceramics.

Tensile testing systems use a number of different units of measurement. The International System of Units, or SI, recommends the use of either Pascals (Pa) or Newtons per square meter (N/m²) for describing tensile strength. In the United States, many engineers measure tensile strength in kilo-pound per square inch (KSI).

• Tensile test with electronic extensometer

This instrument is to be used on Tensile or Universal testing machines to find out Proof stress & Young’s modulus values. In case of many brittle materials such as high carbon steels, alloy steels, light aluminium & magnesium alloys, it is difficult to get yield values. For such materials stress corresponding to a certain allowable amount of plastic deformation is termed as proof stress say 0.1% or 0.2% proof stress. The measuring range is up to 5mm & resolution is 0.001mm.

• Tensile testing at elevated temperature.

High temperature tensile testing is a procedure to test the properties of a material at above room temperature. It will determine the following parameters:

• Tensile strength (breaking strength)
• Yield strength
• Elongation
• Reduction of area

Specialist testing, measurement and control equipment is required to perform this test.
The results of such a test will provide a good indication of the static load bearing capacity of the material and therefore establishes the suitability of a material for its intended purpose.

• Tensile test on Tor steel Bars

TOR steel is one of the best grade of steel used in concrete reinforced. It’s a kind of high adherence steel. Other types of steel are used for less resistance concrete. Thermo mechanically Treated (TMT) bars are a type of corrosion resistant steel reinforcing bar used in concrete construction.

• Bend test on plates

A bend test is used to determine whether a specific piece of metal in question will break or fracture under pressure. This is important in the construction of any project using metal, otherwise the building or the item being made could collapse from the immense pressure exerted on it. Every piece of metal made cannot be tested, therefore certain pieces are tested and if they pass, the other pieces are made using the same process. The results of a bend test are reported differently depending on the type of material tested. There is no standard method for reporting the durability that applies to all materials, rather each group has its own set by which it is judged and compared to other metals in that group.

The bend test is essentially measuring a metal’s ductility. Ductility defines how easily a metal can bend without breaking. The higher the ductility of a metal, the more it can bend without breaking or becoming deformed from its original shape. This is important because certain metals must handle pressure without snapping yet still be ductile enough to bend slightly and not lose their support or shape. Copper and steel are two metals that have a high ductility and do well under pressure.

• Bend test on pipes

Bending tests are carried out to ensure that a metal has sufficient ductility to stand bending without fracturing. A standard specimen is bent through a specified arc and in the case of strip, the direction of grain flow is noted and whether the bend is with or across the grain.

• Bend Test on Tor steel

The purpose is to make certain the weld and the base metal are properly fused, and that the weld metal and the heat affected zone (HAZ) have appropriate mechanical properties

• Re-Bend test on Tor steel

The purpose of re-bend test is to measure the effect of strain ageing on steel. Strain ageing has embrittlement effect which takes place after cold deformation by diffusion of nitrogen in steel. Hence, there is limitation stated in some design codes to restrict the nitrogen content of steel to 0.012%.

• Nick Break Test

The NICK-BREAK TEST is useful for determining the internal quality of the weld metal. This test reveals various internal defects (if present), such as slag inclusions,  gas  pockets,  lack of  fusion,  and  oxidized  or burned metal. To accomplish the nick-break test for checking a butt weld, you must first flame-cut the test specimens from a sample weld.

BLOW MOULDING PROCESS

Today, when walking in your supermarket, it is increasingly difficult to find items packed in glass and jars.  Packaging for soft drinks, healthcare and beauty products, household chemicals and medicines, among other products, have switched from glass or metal to plastics.  Today the Blow Molding industry has expanded from simple plastic containers to plastic drums, gas tanks, automobile parts and toys in all shapes and sizes.

Blow Molding (BM) process makes it possible to manufacture molded products economically, in unlimited quantities, with virtually no finishing required.  The basic process of blow molding involves a softened thermoplastic hollow form which is inflated against the cooled surface of a closed mold.  The expanded plastic form solidifies  into a hollow product.

Blow molded components are now seen all over the markets and industries for traditional materials, particularly in liquid packaging applications.  The last few decades saw the introduction of  Poly Ethylene (PE) squeeze bottles for washing liquids, Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) for cooking oil and fruits squash bottles, and Poly Ethylene Terephthalate (PET) for carbonated beverage bottles.  Nowadays, it is also used for the production of toys, automobile parts, accessories and many engineering components.

There are basically four types of blow moulding used in the production of plastic bottles, jugs and jars. These four types are:

1. Extrusion blow molding,
2. Injection blow molding,
3. Stretch blow molding and
4. Reheat and blow molding.

Extrusion blow molding is perhaps the simplest type of blow molding, whereby a hot tube of plastic material is dropped from an extruder and captured in a water cooled mold. Once the molds are closed, air is injected through the top or the neck of the container; just as if one were blowing up a balloon. When the hot plastic material is blown up and touches the walls of the mold the material “freezes” and the container now maintains its rigid shape. There are various types of shuttle, reciprocating and wheel style machines for the production of extrusion blown bottles. Shuttle or reciprocating type machines can be used for small, medium and high volume production with wheel machines being the most efficient for huge volume production of certain resins.

A typical apparatus consists of following major components i.e. blow pin, plunger, accumulator and lastly a mold.

Actually the process utilizes air pressure to inflate softened thermoplastic tube which is sealed at one end (also called as parision). This parision is constantly inflated and extruded. Then later on it is cut according to required dimensions. The temperature in Accumulator is maintained around 400 degree Celsius or so.

The mold consists of two split parts which have a semi-circular cross-section. Usually the air pressure which is applied in low pressure molding is about 50 to 250 psi. Various forms of blow molding used in industry today on a wide scale are Injection Blow Molding.

Injection Blow Molding though not used in industry, has very limited and specific applications like making small medicine plastic bottles etc. Extrusion blow molding is the simplest form of blow molding. A tube of plastic material which is generally maintained hot, is dropped from an extruder only to be captured in a water cooled mold. Once the molds are closed, air is injected through the top or the neck of the container and the tube is inflated just like a balloon. When the hot plastic material is blown up and touches the walls of the mold the material is cooled and the container now maintains a solid, rigid shape.

Now Stretch blow molding, this process requires the raw material to be formed in a pre-form using injection molding and later on stretch blow molding process can be applied.

The product range varies from various cylindrical components like bottles, cans, floats heater ducts in automobile parts and various small pipe fittings and hollow cylindrical parts can be produced in mass production.

The advantages are many like the tooling costs are very less as compared to injection molding, the part performance is excellent under pressure. Then the products have excellent environmental stress crack resistance. The products also perform excellently in high speed impact strength than even the metal components the process can be automated and used in mass production.

The disadvantages mainly raise environmental concerns. It depends on petroleum industry as any plastic industry depends. Also the cylindrical shapes are delicate so if the dimensions are not accurate then they result in scrap.

PLASTIC-2

What are Plastics?

Plastics are a material that is made up mainly of macromolecules, that can be made fluid by the action of heating and pressurizing, and that can be processed into end products with any useful shape you want to make.

Classification of Plastics

Plastics can be classified into:

1. Thermoplastics and Thermo sets
2. Amorphous Thermoplastics and Crystalline Thermoplastics
3. Commodity Plastics and Engineering Plastics

Thermoplastics Vs Thermo sets

Thermoplastics Elastomer

• TPE – thermoplastic elastomer
• Resemble rubber at room temperature
• Can be melt-processed like other thermoplastics
• Become elastic like rubber when cooled

Amorphous Thermoplastics Vs. Crystalline Thermoplastics

Thermo sets Classifications

Commodity Plastics Vs Engineering Plastics

PLASTIC-2

What are Plastics?

Plastics are a material that is made up mainly of macromolecules, that can be made fluid by the action of heating and pressurizing, and that can be processed into end products with any useful shape you want to make.

Classification of Plastics

Plastics can be classified into:

1. Thermoplastics and Thermo sets
2. Amorphous Thermoplastics and Crystalline Thermoplastics
3. Commodity Plastics and Engineering Plastics

Thermoplastics Vs Thermo sets

Thermoplastics Elastomer

• TPE – thermoplastic elastomer
• Resemble rubber at room temperature
• Can be melt-processed like other thermoplastics
• Become elastic like rubber when cooled

Amorphous Thermoplastics Vs. Crystalline Thermoplastics

Thermo sets Classifications

Commodity Plastics Vs Engineering Plastics

QTC

QTC is a composite made from micron-sized metallic filler particles (Silicone Rubber) mixed into an elastomeric matrix. Quantum tunnelling composite is a flexible polymer that exhibits extraordinary electrical properties. In its normal state it is a perfect insulator, but when compressed it becomes a more or less perfect conductor and able to pass very high currents.

History:

First produced in 1996, QTC is a composite material made from conductive filler particles combined with an elastomeric binder, typically silicone rubber. The unique method of combining these raw materials results in a composite which exhibits significantly different electrical properties when compared with any other electrically conductive material.

Types of QTC:

1. Elastomeric (Material: Silicone Rubber) (The particle move close together)

2. Ink / Coating Solvent or Aqueous Polymer

3. Granular Sensors

Working of Quantum tunnelling composite:

QTC usually comes in the form of pills or sheet. QTC pills are just tiny little pieces of the material. The sheets are composed of one layer of QTC, one layer of a conductive material, and a third layer of a plastic insulator. While QTC sheets switch quickly between high and low resistances, QTC pills are pressure sensitive variable resistors.

Application:

– Touch switches (sheet)
– Force/pressure sensors (pills)
– Motor speed control using force (pills)

Benefits:

• QTC is a pressure/force sensing material. It can be easily integrated into existing products to enable force sensing opportunities and solutions.
• Product surfaces can be incorporated, coated or impregnated with QTC to impart the properties of force sensing into or onto the host surface.
• QTC material can be formed or moulded into virtually any size, thickness or shape, permitting redesign of product interfaces and providing improved ergonomics, aesthetics and user comfort.
• QTC is an enabling technology which is simple and reliable to use.
• QTC material is durable – it has no moving parts to wear out.
• QTC material is mechanically strong.
• QTC material can be made to withstand extreme temperatures limits.
• QTC material is versatile, both electrically and physically e.g. Its range and sensitivity can be altered. QTC material is also intrinsically safe – the material is a contactless switch, ideal for sparkless operation.
• QTC material can be directly interfaced to standard electronic and electrical devices.
• QTC material and/or technology can be customized for customer requirements, applications and products.

PRESSURE FORMING

Material & Description

ABS

Good general purpose material, very tough yet very hard and rigid, good impact and electrical. Available in gauges from .040 to .475 with several extruded textures. Comes opaque and can be matched in custom colors.

ABS/PC

A blend or alloy of ABS and polycarbonate that thermoforms well, weathers well, good color retention, very hard, excellent impact.

ABS/PVC

Flame retardant, tough.

Acrylic

Outstanding weather resistance, excellent optics and electrical properties, poor impact, high gloss and deep luster. Available in standard gauges from .080 to over 1″. Available in clear, transparent and opaque colors.

Acrylic, cell cast

Excellent optics and hot strength, more expensive. Acrylic, continuous and extrusion cast.
Large volume use and best price, good optics.

Acrylic film

3 or 6 mil film for laminating, decorating, and weathering of extruded ABS.

DR Acrylic

Modified acrylic with higher impact properties.

Acrylic/PVC

A blend of acrylic and PVC that is a tough, chemical-resistant material that weathers well and is flame resistant. Available in custom colors.

HDPE (high-density polyethylene)

Crystalline, very tough materials, good weather resistance with UV inhibitors, resistant to many chemicals. Available in standard gauges from .040 to .500. Available in opaque custom colors. Tough and stiff. Good low temperature. Economical.

HMWPE (high molecular weight)

Excellent environmental stress crack properties, thermoforms well, good low temperature.

HIPS (high impact polystyrene)

Good general-purpose material, rigid. Available in clear but usually opaque custom colors from .030 to .350, low cost.

PVC (vinyl)

Good general-purpose material, good abrasion and chemical resistance. Available in clear but usually opaque custom colors from .030 to .125.

Expanded PVC

Stiff, light, flat, thermoformable. Available in stock colors and gauges, generally 3 and 6 mm but others also available.

PETG

Clear, higher impact than acrylic, easy to form. Available in gauges from .030 to .500.

Pressure Forming:

Pressure Forming is the method used to produce injection mold quality, high definition plastic component parts, housings and containers without the huge expense of tooling. It involves positive pressure to force the heated plastic into the mold cavity. This is called pressure thermoforming or blow forming

Pressure Forming Working Operation:

The highly versatile pressure forming process utilizes air pressure, from 20 to 150 psi, to force the heated sheet into a temperature controlled mold cavity. Vent holes are provided in the mold to exhaust the trapped air. The final part features sharp definition of intricate contours and tight radii. Textures and accurate details are built right into the tooling. Low-cost, highly aesthetic plastic parts of varying sizes are possible due to the application of air pressure, as well as more sophisticated process controls that better monitor tool and sheet temperatures while controlling material shrinkage during forming.

Types Of Molding operation:

• Positive Mold
• Negative Mold

Negative molds  have concave cavities. A positive mold has a convex shape.

Pressure Forming over Thermo Forming:

The basic advantage of Pressure Forming over Thermo forming is the cost advantage for small production items. The mould cost for thermo forming is considerably higher in comparison to pressure forming thus for a lower quantity precision job the best suitable method used is pressure forming.

Application:

Pressure forming is used to create in a wide array of plastic products used for packaging of food trays, blisters, covers, internal parts, housings equipment, bezels, bases, and spare parts for use in business machines, electronics, computers and peripherals, bio-medical applications, and instruments.

Features:

Pressure forming achieves features beyond the capabilities of vacuum forming including louvers, ribs, recessed areas, crisp details and logos.

Pressure forming is ideal for small to medium sized production runs that do not justify the high cost of injection molding dies. Additionally, because the aluminum tooling used in pressure forming has an unlimited lifecycle, due to the non-abrasive process versus injection, it saves a great deal of money over many years of continued use. Pressure form tooling usually costs less than 10% the cost of an injection tool. There is also a significant time savings (sometimes 25%) in tooling lead time. Sheet gauges .020″ – .500″ are capable of being pressure formed.