Tips

January 11, 2016
Measured Strain/Calculated Stress
The use of strain gages to measure the strain and calculate the induced stress has been long recognized as a way to predict the long term performance of a product under stress.   The...
January 4, 2016
The Testing of Composite Coupons
The testing of composite coupons is typically accomplished using large (better averaging), high resistance (to avoid grid self-heating) strain gages.  Soldering to attach the leadwires to the...
December 30, 2015
Fatigue Life can be like the hit song by Madeline Kahn, "I’m Tired"
Use the smallest instrument wire, strongest solder, and smallest solder mass practicable to improve the chances for strain gages surviving many tens of thousands of fatigue cycles. Orient the...
December 24, 2015
Foil Strain Gages: The Versatile Sensors
Foil strain gages are the primary sensors in many varieties of transducers; their versatility is unmatched in the sensor world. It is possible to measure weight, force, torque, acceleration,...
December 21, 2015
Surface Preparation for PVC and Rubber Specimens
As some members of the user community know well, strain gages are applied to a wide range of material surfaces.  During the training of strain gage installation, examples and projects are...
December 17, 2015
Blow holes held together with slag
An aerospace engineer once said that automobile steel was akin to blow holes held together with slag. While it is true that low carbon SAE 1018 or 1020 steel has relatively low yield strength and...
December 10, 2015
Diamond Doorknob on an Outhouse Door
Most of us have heard this expression; in manufacturing it typically relates to using a very high-quality component in producing a very low-quality product. Strain-gage-based transducers can face the...
December 3, 2015
Creep Codes
In looking at an MM part number such as N2K-06-S5101N-50C/DG/E3, “N” is the creep code of the strain gage. Strain gage performance can be fine tuned to match the creep...
November 30, 2015
No Alligator Clips Allowed
For stable strain readings, all connections between the strain gage and the instrument should be soldered or use very high-quality, low-resistance connectors. Alligator clips should never be used for...
November 25, 2015
Soldering to Gages on Composites
The increasing use of composite materials in a variety of applications, especially in the automotive and aerospace industries, means that test engineers must perform extensive strain gage testing on...