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Laboratory and test facilities
Our facilities, testing of glass-fiber reinforced plastics, mechanical and thermal analyses, non destructive testing of plastics, fire tests, failure analyses of adhesives, inspection techniques
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Laboratory and test facilities
Bend or break
You want absolute certainty about the quality of your products. Do your materials comply with the requirements? Or maybe you need to find out why certain problems occur in the use of your products. KEMA has all the experts and laboratories needed to answer your questions. The Industrial Plastics team specializes in testing of plastics and rubbers. The materials you use can be characterized using advanced equipment. We would like to use our experience in materials testing to help you find the right solution to your problem. This means our service is not limited to test performance only; our consultants will also give you expert advice on how to translate test results into actual product improvements.
For more information about our laboratory facilities and capabilities: download the factsheet below or contact us.
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[download] Highly equipped laboratory (.pdf 174 kb)
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Testing of glass-fiber reinforced piping
Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GRP) materials are becoming more and more popular for application in certain constructions. The advantages are obvious: no corrosion and easy handling (lightweight at installation). To qualify the materials, KEMA can perform several tests to characterize the quality of (glass fiber) reinforced pipes.
KEMA has samples of at least 1 meter long. It is often required that the pipe length should be at least three times that of the internal diameter. Tests can be performed at temperatures ranging from –10 ºC to 150 ºC. To be able to detect failure of a fiber-glass reinforced pipe, the pipe is wrapped in aluminum foil so that its weeping can be recorded by means of electrical conduction.
Moreover, the pipe is provided with strain gauges to record its elongation in various directions when pressure is applied.
KEMA can perform four standard tests:- low speed loading
- ultimate elastic wall stress (UEWS)
- resistance to internal pressure (NEN-EN 1447)
- chemical resistance inside a deformed pipe. (EN 1120).
Low Speed Loading (LSL)
Low Speed Loading tests may be selected so that so-called regression curves can be derived more easily. This is better than ‘simple’ static pressure tests (NEN-EN 1447), because of the (occasionally) great difference in time to failure in pressure tests according to NEN-EN 1447.
Ultimate Elastic Wall Stress (UEWS)
A specimen is loaded in a prescribed Cyclic Test Pressure (CTP). Each cycle group in which the CTP is constant, consist of 10 cycles of one minute of pressure and one minute of relaxation. Before and after each cycle the strain is measured with strain gauges. The strain after the first pressure cycle is compared with the strain after the tenth pressure cycle. The first CTP has to be 10% of the pressure, corresponding to the expected UEWS (determined by testing the strength according to ASTM 2105).
Resistance to internal pressure (NEN-EN 1447)
Chemical resistance inside a deformed pipe (EN 1120)
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Mechanical analyses
The Industrial Plastics team has everything it takes to perform
a wide range of mechanical tests for you. KEMA can help you
characterize the mechanical properties of your materials. We can do
both tensile and compressive strength tests, and at variable
temperatures. Moreover, fatigue and notched-bar tests can be
conducted. These tests serve to determine the following material
properties: - stress
- compressive strength
- bending properties
- creep
- impact strength
- adhesive strength
- erosion and wear.
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Thermal analyses
Thermal analysis refers to a set of analysis techniques in which material properties are plotted as a function of either time or temperature. Thermal analysis has a very broad range of application, especially in the polymer and elastomer industry. Thermal analysis enables us to determine the following (material) properties for you:- explosion hazard
- crystallinity
- curing profile
- thermal oxidative stability
- degradation profile
- thermal expansion
- softening point
- degree of cross-linking
- melt-flow index
- heat capacity
- melting temperature and melting energy
- heat transmission.
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Non-destructive testing of plastics
How good is your product?
As a producer, you would like to know more about your product’s
quality. Or you want to know if the material you’re using meets the
requirements set by you and your clients. For instance, because
your products fail in practice and you want to know why.
We have several complex analysis techniques to characterize your
materials. We can also specify exactly how ‘good’ the product
properties are. Our long experience allows us to help you find the
right solutions to improve or adapt your products.
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Fire tests
It is impossible to imagine present-day society and industry
without plastics. Plastics are applied just about everywhere: at
home, in recreation centers, the petrochemical industry, electric
power plants, the aviation and automotive industries etc. A typical
example is the plastic pipe. Inflammability of plastics is an
extremely important aspect. Adding certain fillers
(fire-retardants) can make products more resistant to fire.
KEMA is participating in the field of fire tests on materials.
However, the fire tests being conducted at present are more or less
limited to those bearing a relationship with the electricity
industry (for example: tests on lighting luminaires, light carriers
etc.). But the available fire tests could also be used for other
target groups. Moreover, KEMA is a leader in the field of approval
marks: the KEMA-KEUR stands for reliability and safety. The
Industrial Plastics team with its knowledge of materials is
involved in projects to solve such problems.
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Inspection techniques
The quality of constructions and/or coating products is of great
importance. After all, renovation or new construction projects are
expensive. Changed operating conditions may lead to different load
patterns on construction/coating materials than was anticipated in
their design. This may cause accelerated degradation of these
materials. Inspections are needed to make sure materials no do lose
their functionality prematurely. Our inspections and advice can
make condition assessment of your products and installations
possible.
The great advantage for you is that our inspections and advice
will give you a better insight into the operational reliability of
your installations/products, while at the same time achieving
substantial savings (continue with present installation/products or
repair/replacement).
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Glue on the Amsterdam Museumplein
The trendy design of lighting in Amsterdam’s Museum Square may be esthetically justified, but the glue on the plastic boxes between the tiles came loose after only two years. Which was a lot quicker than the fifteen years the municipal authorities had assumed. This may have been due to rainwater, which adversely affected the adhesive properties of the glue. In our well-equipped plastic laboratory we conducted accelerated tests to find out what impact moisture and different temperatures had on the adhesive properties over a period of fifteen years. It turned out that the glue was perfectly resistant to the anticipated weather conditions. Not the glue was of inferior quality, but the pretreatment of the surface on which it had been applied. An interesting conclusion, which enabled the City of Amsterdam to find a relatively simple solution to the problem.
For more information, please contact us.
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