Engineers and designers interested in crack propagation, grain rotation, and other effects of mechanical stress can now get up close and personal with material testing, thanks to a module from MTI Instruments, Albany, N.Y. (www.mtiinstruments.com). The device, which the company got when it acquired Fullam‘s line of tensile-stage products, works with scanning-electron microscopes, atomic-force microscopes, and light microscopes. The aluminum-alloy device can carry out tensile, compression, bending, and facture tests, with optional heaters and coolers available for simulating low and high-temperature environments. And testing can be monotonic, segmented, or cyclic. Dual leadscrews keep load samples centered within a scope’s field of view. MTESTQuatro software from ADMET Inc., Norwood, Mass., controls experiments and collects data.
Edited by Stephen J. Mraz
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