Specialised Mechanical Testing

While the application of tests complying to International Standards, such as ISO and ASTM methods, is important in many instances including materials qualification and quality assurance, often these methods can either not be applied or will not be the most appropriate approach.

Examples include:

• The need to test the performance or properties of products, components or fixtures which do not comply with the stringent dimensional requirements of the standard test methods
• The characterisation of challenging materials, such as thin films, coatings, or soft tissue
• The generation of structure-property relationships, requiring analysis over a range of conditions

Intertek MSG can develop tailored solutions to requirements such as those above, offering

• Experience of devising tests for numerous product forms - e.g. components, coatings, films, foams, fluids, labels and paints
• Access to a wide range of developed instrumentation
• Application science, such as peelability and impact absorption
• The ability to produce test specimens from chip under carefully controlled conditions
• Consultancy and project management

Examples of novel tests developed within the team include:

• Instrumented scratch testing of surface and coatings, to complement and expand on the information produced by industry-standard Tabor abrasion tests
• Methods for the mechanical testing of soft tissue specimens, including skin and tendon
• Squeeze-flow tests to characterise the application performance of coatings and adhesives
• Friction measurements and burst testing of silicone rubbers and lubricants
• Targetted high-speed impact testing of complex shaped components