Facilities Mechanical Testing

Instron 68TM-10 Testing Instrument

This customized instrument enables mechanical characterization of soft materials under tensile and compressive loading conditions at temperatures ranging from -100 to 350 ℃ in either static or dynamic modes. This system has a tall gantry that allows soft, compliant materials to be stretched over their entire elastic range. A TestCam video module allows researchers to use digital correlation techniques by tracking motion of global and discrete sample features during deformation.

TA Instruments ARES G2 Rheometer

The ARES G2 Rheometer is capable of quantifying the rheological and mechanical properties of a broad class of materials, including viscous liquids, viscoelastic materials, and solid samples. The ARES-G2 is a strain controlled rheometer with a separate motor and torque transducer which eliminates any inertial contributions and provides users with high accuracy measurements even at high frequencies. Our accessories include parallel plate, cone-plate, and rough geometries.

TA Instruments DHR-3

The DHR-3 rheometer is capable of performing rotational measurements for analysis of viscometric properties, as well as oscillatory measurements for the analysis of shear modulus and related properties. Stress controlled measurement technique allows for high sensitivity and low noise measurements. Specific features and available accessories for our TA DHR-3 include: parallel plate and cone-plate geometries, ring-cup geometries for interfacial rheology, and double wall geometries for extremely low-viscosity measurements.