Heat Build-up Analyser
- Characterizes rubber self-heating and thermal runaway properties
- Ideal for calibrating and validating heat build up simulations
- Ideal for calibrating exothermic reaction parameters θx and q̇x for the Endurica thermal runaway model
Imposes dynamic tension/compression strain via bending of a cylindrical specimen that rotates- Controls strain amplitude via the angle of bending, and cycle rate via the rotation speed
- Measures internal and external temperature vs. time
- Easy to use control software
Instrumented Chip & Cut Analyser
When there is rolling or sliding contact of a rubber surface over a second hard surface of sufficient roughness, localized cutting and damage of the rubber surface sometimes becomes a problem. It occurs in off-road tires operating on stony surfaces, for example, and it can severely limit the useful life of a tire.
Utilized in the laboratory for:
- Measuring chip and cut resistance of rubber compounds under cyclic impact loadings
- Mimicking conditions experienced in demanding applications – the ICCA is highly instrumented to enable control and measurement of forces and displacements during impact
- Friction and wear measurements when operated in full contact mode
- Highly instrumented to enable control and measurement of forces and displacements during impact to mimic conditions experienced in demanding applications
- The instrument can be also be operated in full contact mode as a friction and wear measurement device
Intrinsic Strength Analyser
- Measures the intrinsic strength of polymers through cutting forces on an instrumented blade of controlled sharpness
- Indicates the threshold fracture mechanical strength of a polymer network (i.e. the mechanical fatigue threshold)
- Based on the Lake and Yeoh procedure (a sufficiently sharp blade can directly load and break molecular bonds without inducing the large viscoelastic process zone and the losses that arise when you drive a crack by ultimate loads or dynamic loads)
- The blade is driven at a very slow, controlled rate into the rubber while all of the forces and displacements involved in the crack tip energy balance are recorded.
- The measurements and data reduction are fully automated and simple to use.
Tear & Fatigue Analyser
- Measures crack growth under dynamic loading cycles
- Produces the crack growth rate curve as a function of applied tearing energy
- Produces parameters for describing effects of strain-crystallization on crack growth
- Includes protocols for both fully relaxing (R=0) and nonrelaxing (R>0) conditions