An Introduction to Mechanical Properties of Engineered Materials

This book presents the design and implementation of a universal testing machine for mechanical characterization of metals and polymers in three-point bending and tensile test, adapting a control system, monitoring and data visualization, using specialized equipment for automation. The parameters to carry out; tensile, three-point bending tests and the functional and technical specifications that the machine must have according to ASTM standards were defined. Concept design, mathematical calculations and CAD designs were developed using Solidworks. Graphical User Interface (GUI) was designed to interact with the operator. The human-machine interface (HMI) was implemented in proprietary software and includes rules for supervision and manipulation of the system variables for the operator according to the ASTM standard. The HMI is interconnected with a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) where the selection rules of the process are implemented in a grafcet diagram, through the test protocol. The system has a test capacity of 500 Kgf for both the tensile test and three-point bending test.