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Mechanical Testing

With its subgroups, experiments and associated standards.

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Scope

Subgroups within Mechanical Testing

Each group lands in its own section on the same page; The full list of experiments is there.

Static Tests

Dynamic Tests

Hardness

Triboloji

Mechanical Testing — What Does This Testing Field Cover?

The section below describes how the field of Mechanical Testing works. The conditions, sample requirements and acceptance criteria of the individual tests in this field are given on the relevant test pages.

Mechanical testing measures how a material or a part behaves under force. The family ranges from static loading (tension, compression, bending) to time-dependent behaviour (fatigue, creep), and from hardness and wear to fracture toughness.

What these tests have in common is that the result is reported as a MATERIAL PROPERTY. Yield strength or hardness is not a conformity decision; it is numerical data against which the design and the product standard will compare. Mechanical test reports are therefore usually an input to an engineering decision rather than to a product approval — material selection, safety factor, life prediction.

The distinction between static and dynamic behaviour is the key to understanding the field. A part may appear entirely unstressed under a static load yet break under repeated loading; fatigue fracture occurs at stresses well below the yield strength and gives no warning. For rotating, vibrating or cyclically loaded parts, a tensile test alone is therefore not sufficient evidence.

Test conditions determine the result, and this is critical for the readability of the report: specimen geometry, loading rate, temperature, conditioning and the gripping arrangement. The same material gives different values under different conditions. In plastics the rate effect is very pronounced, in metals the temperature effect; in composites the specimen orientation changes the result entirely.

Hardness is the most misused measurement in the field. Because it is fast, close to non-destructive and inexpensive, it is often used in place of strength. Conversion tables from hardness to strength exist, but they are APPROXIMATE and depend on the material group; using them as the sole evidence in material acceptance is wrong.

The fracture mechanics side requires a specific competence. Fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth rate measurements make it possible to calculate how long a cracked structure will last; they are the basis of damage-tolerant design in fields such as pressure equipment, aircraft structures and pipelines.

Method groups in this field

  • Static tests

    Tension, compression, bending, shear and torsion. Yield and tensile strength, elongation and modulus of elasticity are obtained.

  • Impact tests

    Charpy and Izod notch impact; the brittle-to-ductile transition behaviour of the material is determined as a function of temperature.

  • Hardness

    Brinell, Vickers, Rockwell, Shore and micro hardness. Valuable for surface treatment depth and local differences in strength.

  • Fatigue

    Force- and strain-controlled axial fatigue, fatigue in bending; S-N curves and the endurance limit.

  • Creep and stress relaxation

    Behaviour under long-term load at high temperature; decisive for boiler, turbine and pressure equipment materials.

  • Fracture mechanics

    Plane-strain fracture toughness, the J integral, CTOD and fatigue crack growth rate.

  • Wear and friction

    Taber and rotating drum abrasion, coefficient of friction measurements.

Commonly confused in this field

  • Calculating strength from hardness is approximate; it cannot be used as the sole evidence in material acceptance.
  • Adequate static strength does not demonstrate fatigue strength; a cyclically loaded part requires a separate test.
  • If test rate and temperature are not reported, the result cannot be compared — especially for polymers and composites.
  • A test specimen and the actual part may not give the same value; moulding orientation, weld lines and differences in surface treatment all have an effect.
  • A strength value given for a composite without stating the specimen orientation is meaningless.
  • ASTM and ISO counterparts measure the same quantity but use different specimen geometries; the results are not treated as directly equivalent.

Which decisions these results support

  • Design verification and material selection
  • Incoming material control and supplier approval
  • Meeting the mechanical requirements of the product standard
  • Failure analysis, life prediction and damage tolerance calculation
  • Verifying heat treatment and surface treatment processes

Sectors

In which sectors is Mechanical Testing used?

Other categories

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