Digital tester Instron

The labor-intensive nature of polymer tensile and flexure tests makes them logical candidates for automation. We have developed a fully automated instrument for performing these tests on rigid materials. The instrument is comprised of an Instron universal tester, a Zymark laboratory robot, a Digital Equipment Corporation minicomputer, and custom-made accessories to manipulate the specimens and measure their dimensions automatically. Our system allows us to determine the tensile or flexural properties of over one hundred specimens without human intervention, and it has significantly improved the productivity of our laboratory. This paper describes the structure and performance of our system, and it compares the relative costs of manual versus automated testing. 

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