The study of the fracture mechanics of materials is one of the most interesting and exciting fields in materials testing. This field measures under what conditions a crack initiates and resistance to crack growth as a function of the applied load or environmental conditions. Fracture mechanics is important to such wide-ranging applications as asphalt for roads, solid rocket propellant, advanced materials for micro-electro-mechanical systems applications, and aluminum or steel for aircraft or structural support applications. Evaluation can provide for basic material selection or the evaluation of defects introduced during the manufacturing process.
The equipment required for fracture mechanics evaluations can be quite complex including high frequency cyclic capabilities to reduce test time, very accurate control of test conditions to ensure data validity, aggressive environments for evaluating material-environment interaction, advanced sensor technology for determining the compliance of the sample or the crack length directly, and extremely reliable test equipment for trouble-free high cycle testing.
ElectroForce Systems Group