Question: What is your most favourite equipment and what is it's purpose?

Jess Smith answered on 11 Mar 2014:

I like the mechanical testing rigs. We have a special one called a Dynamic Mechanical Analyser (or DMA). The DMA takes quite small bits of the material and tests properties like the yield strength (the point where it breaks when you pull or squash it), the elasticity (how stretchy it is), the torsional strength (how strong it is if you twist it) and many others. You can do this at different temperatures, and even test how the sample behaviour changes when you do the experiment in water, or oil. We have a special camera attached to the machine that takes photos whilst the sample is in the machine. If you think the sample may stretch from one area more than another, you can cover your material in dots, and then the camera will be able to track how these dots have moved during the experiment and tell you if you were right or not.

Mechanical testing can tell you so much about your material, and how it will behave in different situations. We can also then look in the microscope to see how the materials structure has been changed by putting it in the machine (did the molecules inside move around when it broke for example).