Fracture Toughness Testing Gains A2LA Accreditation , GE & Boeing Approval At Laboratory Testing Inc.

Online, September 11, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Laboratory Testing Inc. (LTI) has expanded its scope of accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 with The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). The laboratory has been awarded A2LA accreditation for Fracture Toughness Testing under the umbrella of approvals in the field of Mechanical Testing. In addition, the Boeing Company has audited and approved Laboratory Testing lnc. as a Source for Fracture Toughness Testing to ASTM E399, and has added the test to their list of LTI approved processes. Likewise, GE Transportation - Aviation has added Fracture Toughness Testing to LTI's S400 Certification of Approval.

The computerized fracture toughness test equipment at Laboratory Testing Inc. can generate 55,000 lbs. of tensile or compressive force. An environmental chamber controls the test temperature between -150° F and +350° F. LTI has fixturing to test various specimens in a range of sizes, including SE(B) (single edge bend) and C(T) (compact tension) specimens. The fracture toughness test requires a precisely machined specimen prepared to specification. The Machine Shop at LTI prepares all required specimens including those with an EDM notch.

Fracture toughness testing according to ASTM E399 applies a continuously increasing load to the specimen and determines KIC. ASTM E1820 uses a rising load with periodic partial unloading to measure the instantaneous crack length and provides both KIC and JIC. The stress-intensity factor, "K", is used to characterize the fracture toughness of linear elastic materials, which are typically high strength materials that fail in a brittle manner. "J" describes elastic-plastic fracture toughness in more ductile materials which are better able to deform and resist crack growth under load. The Roman numeral subscript "I" indicates the test process in which a tensile load is applied normal to the direction of the crack plane.

Laboratory Testing Inc. received its first A2LA accreditation certificate in 1989 for dimensional testing and has continued to expand the scope of A2LA accredited testing and calibration services since that time.