Single-Filament Tensile Testing

Carbon Nexus houses Australia’s first FAVIMAT+ automated single-filament tensile testing machine, manufactured by Textechno in Germany. The unit is complemented by an AIROBOT2 sample handling system consisting of a sample storage unit with magazines and a transfer clamp which takes the fibre from the storage unit and delivers it to the FAVIMAT+ testing section. Compared to conventional testing equipment using separate, manually operated test stations, the FAVIMAT+ with AIROBOT2 reduces testing labour time by as much as 95 percent.

The FAVIMAT+ simultaneously measures the linear density and tensile properties of individual carbon fibres which are less than a tenth of the diameter of a human hair and very difficult to handle.

The unit can be loaded with up to 500 samples for automated testing and removes the need for a highly trained engineer to carry out manual testing.

Tensile testing may be carried out during carbon fibre process experiments, enabling fast feedback to researchers regarding fibre properties.

Capabilities:

• Simultaneous measurement of linear density, tensile strength and tensile modulus of single carbon fibres
• Estimation of fibre diameter
• Metal-to-fibre friction measurements
• Statistical analysis of test data