Mechanical testing on composite materials
Composite materials are known for their ability to make structures lighter and are valued in aeronautics, the naval industry, nautical sports, etc. They are used for manufacturing strategic parts and must demonstrate resistance to intense mechanical stress.
We know that securing the mechanical behavior of your innovative materials and assemblies is crucial. We specialize in multiple-property mechanical testing (mechanical, thermal, hygrometry, etc.) and custom create robust economic test fixtures.
Our testing services in Nantes and Saint-Nazaire
Our R&D engineers are intent on applying their scientific rigor in conducting your standardized or complex tests.
Their objective is to approve the strength of your composite parts and prototypes, even in extreme conditions. Our service is complete, from defining test specifications to interpreting results.
Static strength tests
Entrusting a local laboratory with your standardized static or custom-developed tests.
- Bending test – tensile test – compression test
- Peeling: assembly resistance
- Adhesion tests
- Shear – Torsion – Resilience
- Hardness tests
Fatigue tests
Fatigue characterization of your composite materials. Determining your parts’ lifetime behavior and damage tolerance.
- Controlled force and/or displacement tests
- Fatigue strength: tensile – compression, bending
- Measuring and monitoring strain (fiber optics, digital image correlation, strain gauges)
- Measuring internal strain (XRD, fiber optics)
- Resistance to fracture and fatigue limit – impact of failure on fatigue resistance
- Failure mode analysis (SEM or digital microscope)
Complex tests in an aggressive environment
Determining composite materials’ strength when exposed to an aggressive environment: immersion, intense heat or humidity, UV exposure, etc.
- Testing under coupled hygro-thermo-mechanical loads
- Aging under pressure or different mechanical loads
- In-situ measurements of hygro-thermo-elastic strain gradients
Custom test benches
Designing custom test benches that are adapted to your composite structures, from centimeter-sized samples to parts that are several meters long.
- Developing custom test benches that are adapted to your small- or very large-scale structures
- Adapting test fixtures
- Designing and manufacturing benches and tools
Aging tests
We provide you with reliable accelerated aging data to approve models that can predict your composites’ behavior.
- Thermal or hygrothermal aging
- UV aging in a dry or moisture-controlled environment
- UVA or UVB thermal cycling
- Coefficient of Moisture Expansion (CME) measurement
- Salt spray aging
Fatigue and additive manufacturing
Using appropriate static and dynamic characterizations to determine the durability and reliability of your additively manufactured parts.
- Dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA) and fatigue testing
- Roughness measurements
- Tensile tests, bending tests, constitutive laws for material behavior: elastic limit, breaking limit, elongation
- Photoaging (QUV,UV)
- Quality control (microscopy, colorimetry and gloss)
- Hygrothermal aging
Composite assembly fatigue
Identifying fatigue resistance of welded, glued, bolted/screwed, or multi-material assemblies, in order to reduce residual stresses more effectively.
- Analysis of fatigue failure morphology
- Failure and fatigue limit tests
- Bond strength
- Taking account stress concentrations, residual stresses, etc
- Taking surface quality into account
- Finishing operations for improving fatigue resistance through heat treatment
Challenges we’ve met
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