Know the Importance of Tensile Test on Materials used in Industries

Tensile tests are performed to understand how a material will behave in certain conditions, or under certain stressors. The results of a tensile test help manufacturers decide on how and when to use the material when they are designing a project.

Several industries perform tensile testing to ensure the safety of the material. Engineers use this test to know the quality of the bridge they have manufactured. Any time you cross a bridge while driving or take the elevator up to the top floor of a skyscraper, there is no failure or risk associated with it as the materials used to make these engineering wonders are themselves a product of countless hours of tests, including tensile tests.

The tensile test gives engineers and construction workers to understand that the steel cables used to support a suspension bridge will be strong enough to support itself and thousands of cars per day and that the steel rebar will be strong enough to hold a skyscraper steady against the forces of wind and gravity.

Steel cables for bridges, rebar for buildings, rail for railroads, and screws and bolts to hold it all together even if you aren’t an engineer, you can appreciate the benefits of tensile testing.

How to conduct the test?

The Tensile test can be performed on a rubber band, pulling it apart until it gets snapped. A Tensile Testing Machine is used to apply more force and can collect more accurate data than their human operators alone could do. Tensile testing determines the strength of a material. This test is conducted by a testing instrument that can pull two ends of a sample in opposite directions until breaking point, this is used for uniaxial tensile testing. Many materials are used for testing for tensile strength, but different materials will react differently to the same forces, based on their material properties.

The Universal tensile testing machine is the most common testing instrument, which can test samples with tension, compression, or bending forces. The machine operator loads the test sample, either a full-section test piece or a machined test piece, between the two crossheads and secures the sample with grips.

One crosshead is static and the other crosshead moves up or down. The type of grip used is determined by not only the type of test and the forces involved but also the type of material and its shape. There are different grips for round samples such as cable or a screw and sheet samples such as rubber belts or aluminium siding.