Materials testing is critical for the development and quality assurance of all products in the market, with some industries such as biomedical, aerospace, and automotive companies experiencing high volumes of testing throughput in addition to strict quality standards.

An extensometer is a device that is used to measure changes in the length of an object, or sample in the materials testing world, such as stress-strain measurements and tensile tests.

Does residual stress affect quality? The short answer is “yes.” The better question is, “How does residual stress affect quality?”

Disruptions to your testing program can result in delayed shipments, upset customers, and lost revenue. For this reason, it is crucial to ensure that measures are being taken to prevent system downtime when planning the introduction or evolution of your testing program.

Today there are over 3,500 different grades of steel. In fact, steel is one of the world’s most innovative and essential materials for manufacturing, building and construction. 

All objects—from toothbrushes to umbrellas to the components of a space shuttle—experience forces throughout their lifecycles. In performing everyday actions like tying a shoelace or ripping open a package, we all exert forces without even realizing it.

Anyone involved in medical device manufacturing knows that their industry is highly regulated. Almost every medical device manufacturer or pharmaceutical supplier uses materials testing systems in their quality control and research laboratories or outsources their testing to approved third-party laboratories. 

We tend to take cardboard packaging for granted, despite its increasing importance in our everyday lives. With the advent of online shopping, more and more of our purchases are shipped to our homes inside cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes.

Component manufacturers across the manufacturing spectrum—such as in automotive, aerospace, electronics, medical, energy and other fields—must ensure that their parts meet engineers’ specifications.