Advantage of Universal Testing Machine
Northern Elastomeric Inc. (NEI) of Brentwood, NH, was founded in 1989 to produce styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) modified asphalt, self-adhesive roofing and waterproofing products. NEI soon became one of the leading suppliers in the residential ice and water protection market. NEI entered other self-adhesive markets such as thru-wall flashing, below grade waterproofing and air barrier products. It also began supplying other companies with private-labeled products.
Each machine is available with optional fixed or adjustable crosshead. The key advantage of the Universal Testing Machine – Servo Hydraulic TT-HW Series is the long stroke which meets and exceeds the extreme requirements of standards including ASTM, JIS, and BS
The asphalt coatings are applied to one or both sides of, or saturated into, the substrate materials. The coating material has its own penetration, melting, tensile and tear characteristics. NEI also tests competitors’ products for comparison. The lab supports manufacturing quality assurance with post-production penetration, viscosity, weight and melting point tests, as well as elasticity tests of the coated products. It also conducts cold-temperature testing.
The SBS coating formulations are designed to increase the elasticity of the asphalt. NEI intensely tests experimental designs and formulations as it develops new product variations. Technicians often test 20-100 specimens per experimental run to evaluate the resulting performance of various coating/substrate formulations. During development, technicians often run the tensile testing machine 25-30 hours per week.
Tensile tests range from just a few lbf for ice and water shield products up to about 200 lbf for asphalt roofing surfaces. NEI conducts tensile tests on 1″ specimens. It also conducts Pant Tear tests that are similar to trapezoid tests. For these tests, a 1″ sample is partially slit and the two “legs” are pulled apart to measure tear resistance.
Its room temperature tensile testing machine, a Scott tester, predated the company’s founding by decades. The machine, common in the textiles industry, stands eight feet tall and uses a pendulum raised by a 20″-diameter motor and a mechanical arm indicator to report results. The Scott tester required that technicians mount the specimen and then manually set the machine parameters for each test. It was not accurate, especially for low-force testing. It was also cumbersome to operate, slow, and required operators to manually record test results. The results are downloaded via ADMET’s WinCOM PLUS.
Processing your request, Please wait....
