Materials Testing Machine • ME-8236

Measure force and displacement for various materials as they are stretched, compressed, sheared, or bent. Investigate material properties including Young’s Modulus, Tensile Strength, Yield Strength, Ductility and Modulus of Resilience.

The Materials Testing Machine measures force with a 7100 N load cell and displacement with an optical encoder. It runs on PASCO Capstone software, which has a built-in compliance calibration wizard and has all the tools to record and display stress vs. strain, apply linear fits to find Young’s Modulus, and to record and play back webcam movies of the breaking samples, synced to the data.

Workbooks include all instructions needed to perform the experiment:

• Introduction and theory
• Setup instructions
• Detailed analysis and summary questions

How It Works

The Materials Testing Machine has a built-in load cell (strain gauge transducer) capable of measuring up to 7100 newtons (N) of force (1600 pounds), and an optical encoder module that measures displacement of the load bar. A crank-and-gear system raises or lowers the load bar on two leadscrews (also known as power screws or translation screws). Force data from the load cell and displacement data from the encoder module can be recorded, displayed, and analyzed by a PASCO Interface with PASCO Data Acquisition Software. 

The sensor cable from the Materials Testing Assembly connects to a PASPORT input port.

The Materials Testing Assembly includes a calibration rod and nut, a load bar round nut, and a pair of safety shields with Velcro® hook material.

What's Included

• 1x Machine
• 1x Compliance calibration rod
• 1x Safety shields