Data Capture Kit Enhances Impact Test System

Imatek has supplied a data capture modernisation kit to Huntsman Advanced Materials in Basel, Switzerland, to extend the functionality of a third-party impact test system. Huntsman Advanced Materials is a supplier of synthetic and formulated polymer systems for applications requiring high-performance materials. The company's products include structural adhesives and composites used in aircraft manufacturing, the production of windmill blades for power generation, the construction of liquefied natural gas tankers in the energy industry and the production of golf clubs and skis in the recreation industry.

Huntsman also supplies materials that are used in the electronics industry to manufacture printed circuit boards for advanced electronic equipment, insulation materials for the electric power industry, for ignition coils, switchgear, insulators and transformers and high-performance protective coatings used in the construction of steel bridges, concrete flooring and appliances. Prior to its modernisation, the impact tester at Huntsman was a basic non-instrumented drop weight machine offering very limited functionality and limited testing ability.

By adding Imatek's C3008 data acquisition system, a high-precision laser trigger, Kistler force link and Imatek Impacqt software, the machine now offers an enhanced range of testing capabilities. The laboratory-grade Imatek instrumentation offers both high versatility and powerful analysis features, including Fourier analysis for displaying the complete range of frequencies captured during an impact event. This is said to be useful in examining the frequencies generated by the specimen undergoing test and the frequencies inherent in the test equipment itself.

Imatek's system uses a Kistler force link instead of a strain gauge, which is claimed to give better-quality results. Imatek's turnkey system comprises the C3008 data acquisition system, two user licence impact testing software systems and a T1000 laser trigger system. The T1000 high-precision laser/detector trigger interfaces directly to the C3008 data acquisition hardware. The T1000 can provide a trigger to the data acquisition when the optical path between the laser and the detector is obscured and with a suitable target can provide highly accurate, low-noise velocity measurement.

The Impacqt software is a single package that is used to configure the data acquisition hardware and to analyse the resulting data. It may also be used in standalone mode for offline analysis. The software is designed to provide high productivity and includes many features and powerful analysis and reporting. The user interface is configurable to let the customer work in the way required. A series of user levels can be defined to restrict access to certain features of the software so that less advanced users can utilise the software without the risk of producing invalid results.

Support for the high-speed video option is fully integrated into the software, including camera setup, automatic control over lighting and the display of video data from within the software - either as still images, moving images or linked to a graph marker to correlate captured data and video. It also lets the user extract calibrated measurements from the video data. Imatek has already supplied similar systems to Airbus, Imperial College London and the research and development centre of Corus Steel (now Tata) in the UK.

In all cases, the C3008 data acquisition system and impact testing software have been added to third-party testing equipment. In the case of Corus and Imperial, Imatek has also supplied an integrated high-speed video system. Imatek's products are used all over the world to test the properties of materials, components and assemblies in industries such as aerospace, polymer processing, steel production, automotive and academic research.

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