Torsion Testing of engineered composite materials requires special test equipment. A composite material contains two or more constituent materials. Composite materials either enhance or supplement the material properties of the individual materials. The most common modern advanced composites are fiber-matrix composites. Torsional tests of composite materials measure the in-plane shear strength and torsion testing is useful for cylindrical composite products such as street light posts and tanks. Torsional shear is an extremely important test for composite materials, since load transfer theories for fiber reinforced composites use shear stress at the fiber-matrix bond as the primary load transfer mechanism. Cylindrical engineered composite materials and components are manufactured using a filament winding or hoop winding process. The in-plane shear strength of a filament wound composite is a function of the fiber tensile and compression properties and matrix shear properties.
Torsional and torque Test fixtures are typically designed to be used in a wide variety of test environments, which are necessary to recreate the real life application conditions of composite materials. The creation of these environments is achieved through the use of saline baths for testing composites used in marine, biological, and outdoor environments and high temperature environmental chambers for composites used in the aviation, aerospace, and automotive industries. TestResources offers a wide range of electromechanical, electrodynamic, and servo-hydraulic torsion and axial-torsion test machines for testing the torsional properties of plastics. The torque capacity of these machines ranges from 62 to 17,750 in-lb. TestResources also offers torsion conversion fixtures that allow the use of your existing linear axial universal test machine or tensile tester for torsion testing.
Applicable Testing Standards
Recommended Test Machine
Forces up to 10 kN (2,250 lbf)
Low force tabletop systems
Modular series of five frame options with adjustable test space
Affordable testing option for tension, compression, bend, peel and much more
Axial Load Capacity: 0.8 to 300 kN (180 to 67000 lbf)
Torsion Capacity: 1 to 300 Nm (9 to 2655 in-lb)
Static and dynamic options available
Torsion Capacity: 1 Nm to 5650 Nm (9 to 50,000 in-lb)
Type: Electromechanical Gear or Electrodynamic Direct Drive
Available in both horizontal and vertical orientations
Recommended Testing Accessories
Inexpensive conversion from an axial test machine to a torsional test machine
Torque ratings of 20 Nm and 300 Nm (180 lbf∙in and 2650 lbf∙in)
Adjustable mounting head allows for various specimen sizes
Rotates a full 360°
