DVI’s Material Science Experts have access to a wide range of mechanical test equipment. Mechanical testing often allows our Material Science Experts to confirm a material specification during a failure investigation. For example, mechanical testing may be used to confirm the rated proof load and the ultimate load capacity of a bolt or a weld.

DVI’s Aviation Testing Experts can perform these mechanical tests in accordance with industry standards such as ASTM and ISO, likewise our Aviation Testing Experts can design and perform a fully customized test that is unique to your needs. The following are just a few of the mechanical testing services that DVI's Aviation Testing Experts can provide:

Tensile Testing: Tension tests can provide information on the strength and ductility of materials under uniaxial tensile stresses. This information may be useful in comparisons of materials, alloy development, quality control, and design under certain circumstances. A typical ASTM standard for testing metallic materials is ASTM E8. This test method covers the tension testing of metallic materials in any form at room temperature, specifically, the methods of determination of yield strength, yield point elongation, tensile strength, elongation, and reduction of area.

Compression Testing: Compressive properties are of interest in the analyses of structures subject to compressive or bending loads or both and in the analyses of metal working and fabrication processes that involve large compressive deformation such as forging and rolling. A typical ASTM standard for testing the compressive strength of metallic materials is ASTM E9. The data obtained from a compression test may include the yield strength, the yield point, Young's modulus, the stress-strain curve, and the compressive strength of a material.

Impact Testing: Impact testing can relate specifically to the behavior of a metal when subjected to a single application of a force resulting in multi-axial stresses associated with a notch, coupled with high rates of loading and in some cases with high or low temperatures. For some materials and temperatures the results of impact tests on notched specimens, when correlated with service experience, have been found to accurately predict the likelihood of brittle fracture. A typical ASTM standard for impact testing on metallic materials is ASTM E23.

Hardness Testing: Hardness is the property of a material that enables it to resist plastic deformation, usually by penetration. However, hardness testing can also be used to evaluate a material’s resistance to bending, scratching, abrasion or cutting. A number of standardized ASTM methods are employed to evaluate hardness, including Brinell (ASTM E10-12), Vickers (ASTM 384-11e1) and Rockwell tests (ASTM E18).

DVI’s Material Science and Testing Experts also understand the importance of being able to work with the many other independent and unbiased laboratories across the country. In some instances, it is more practical to have the mechanical testing performed near the storage of the subject artifacts or at a location convenient for the client.  In those instances, DVI’s Aviation Experts can locate and coordinate testing activities with a regional laboratory.   

Case Study: Tensile Testing of Steel Rods

For standardized Tensile Testing, DVI’s Aviation Testing Expert’s, utilized RSG Testing located on the south side of Chicago. RSG has Tensile Testing machines capable of pulling forces up to 400,000 Lbs. Additionally, RSG has the in-house ability to provide the integration of video recordings with data depiction, as seen in the video below.

Case Study: Customized Full Scale Testing of a Composite Structure

DVI’s President designed an entirely custom test protocol and fixture to validate the strength of a full-scale prototype composite structure for the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The composite structure was designed to withstand the high speed stuffing loads experienced by the water craft plowing through the crests of waves. To test the static strength of the composite structure, a test fixture was created that integrated a data acquisition system, multiple strain gages, and a methodology of stacking large concrete blocks atop the structure. This test was a simple and effective way of verifying that the calculated strength of the composite structure was accurate, prior to sea trials.