FILAB, laboratory for the study of material endurance
You want to study the endurance of your materials?
Why study the endurance of your materials?
If the characteristics determined during a conventional dynamometric test such as traction, resilience or bending allow to appreciate the mechanical properties of a material, they are not sufficient to know its behavior to repetitive cycles of efforts. This can constitute a crucial aspect of validation, particularly for safety components in demanding sectors such as aeronautics (aircraft landing gear), railways (wheels, bogies, …), space, …
Indeed, if a part or a structure is subjected to cyclic stresses (generally millions of cycles!) it can break under stresses largely lower than the maximum load and even often lower than the elastic limit. Hence the interest in implementing tests that will allow to assess the endurance of the material, the quality and the life cycle of the products.
How do you study the endurance of your materials?
Grouped under the term fatigue tests, we can mention in particular the tensile/compression, alternating torsion and bending fatigue tests which constitute the most common fatigue tests.
The principle of these tests is relatively simple since it consists in reproducing in a cyclic way the mechanical stresses undergone during the whole operating life of the part.
This form of “accelerated aging” will allow us to better understand the life expectancy of the product, to determine an appropriate warranty period, to develop a preventive maintenance schedule, but also to highlight wear areas, failure points and mechanical weaknesses in order to consider design changes to improve the robustness and reliability of the product.
Moreover, the study of the fracture surfaces generated by fatigue tests is also an important source of information, firstly by determining the number of fatigue cycles applied since the initiation of the fracture, which allows us to obtain the number of fatigue cycles at the time of the appearance of the crack. These fracture surface examinations are carried out by Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled to a microprobe (SEM-EDX).
FILAB supports you in studying the endurance of your materials
With significant experience in performing this type of test, FILAB can assist you with your material endurance characterization needs.
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