Understanding The Impact Test And Its Uses
The impact test is primarily used to test an object’s ability to resist high-rate loading. This test determines the energy absorbed in fracturing a test piece of, e.g. metal, at high velocity. Put simply, impact testing can be thought of a measuring the impact resistance as one object strikes another at a relatively high speed.
Impact resistance is a vital consideration for part designers and yet it is difficult to measure and quantify. The impact resistance of a component is so important because it can give you information on the service life of that part as well as helping to solve the problem of product safety and liability.
Impact testing can help determine what impact energy the component in question can expect to see over its lifetime and the kind of impact that would deliver that energy. This can help you to select a material that will resist these assaults over its projected life span, thus the impact test can be a useful tool when selecting the most suitable components.
Other things will also need to be considered such as the fact that the impact properties of the component part will alter if it has anything added to it such as colouring agents or if part of the component has weak spots caused by weld lines or gate areas.
Impact testers will recreate the kinds of impact that a component may experience during its service life to help determine whether or not it is suitable for its intended use and what the expected service life will be.
Energy and impact velocity are measured during an impact test. These measurements are made using various technologies depending on the type of test machine. For example, drop tower test machines measure energy using an instrumented striker system, whereas pendulum impact test machines measure the energy absorbed in fracturing a test specimen using an optical encoder.
Impact testing is just one in a suite of testing procedures available from your metallurgical testing laboratory and just one of the processes that can help manufacturers create an end product that it fit for its intended purpose.
If you would like to find out more about the impact test and its uses why not visit the Rotech Laboratories website where you can learn more about the services they offer including impact testing.