Data-driven mechanics require data: our in-house developed automated tensile testing machine can perform up to one-hundred tensile experiments with only one click. Prior testing, the main dimensions of the samples are measured and during the test high-resolution images, infrared images as well as load cell data are acquired continuously up to the fracture of the specimen. As of early 2021, the machine has performed more than 5000 experiments and helped in characterizing 50+ materials.
The mechanical properties of current additively-manufactured materials exhibit large variability due to the presence of defect creating during the manufacturing process. Furthermore, fusion based metal additive manufacturing often leads to spatial dependency of the material response. To assess these variations (e.g. yield and ultimate tensile strength, ductility…) and the variability of the process, hundreds of experiments are performed using the robot-assisted tensile testing machine.
Thermoplastics exhibit a complex response to mechaincal (strain, strain rate) and thermal (temperature) loading. To assess a large parameter space and generate "big experimental data", robot-assisted testing is key. Below are the strain, strain rate and temperature histories for part of an experimental campaign on Polypropylene (PP)
