New Tool for High Strain Rate Materials Testing

Specialized Imaging reports that high tech material, testing and process development specialists - REL, Inc. has expanded its capabilities in their high strain rate lab by combining a Kirana Ultra High-Speed camera with their Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) system.

The Specialized Imaging Kirana camera provides REL, Inc with the ability to create high-resolution images of the ultra high-speed events that often occur with materials testing. Taking up to 5,000,000 frames per second, and shuttering every 100 nanoseconds, there is no compromise in capturing high quality data. The data is exported in 180 frames so each test can be easily saved and viewed.

The initial applications undertaken by REL Inc., using the high speed camera, are in the area of high strain rate material testing. The deformation and the failure patterns of materials, adhesives, and joined materials, can be observed and recorded in tests that last less than 100 micro seconds or 1/10,000 of a second.

REL has integrated the Kirana ultra high-speed camera with 2-D imaging software, which displays the strain of material as it happens real-time. To view ultra high speed recording of a high strain rate tension test on a polymer sample please visit www.relinc.net/testing/high-strain-rate-testing/(http://www.relinc.net/testing/high-strain-rate-testing/). Future target applications for the Kirana camera at REL Inc. will include ballistic testing and material analysis.

“This high speed camera will become a huge asset to our company and to our customers as it allows for the visual extraction of material behavior during crash, blast or ballistic-type events,” said Josh Loukus, President of REL, Inc. “Materials designers and product engineers can now develop and model system behavior with high confidence of how the materials will behave under extreme loading conditions. We have had several customers ask us to incorporate this imaging into the testing protocol of their samples.”

In addition to a visual response from the test, REL’s SURE-Pulse™ data acquisition system provides an instantaneous strain curve, allowing its customers to spend their time on material science, not on data acquisition.