Offshore staff
HUDSON, Massachusetts -- Test Devices Inc. (TDI) has achieved the first-ever thermal mechanical fatigue (TMF) dynamic test, which was conducted on a turbine engine bladed high compressor component. The test was performed using TDI's Advanced Spin rotational testing platform.
TDI's testing platform can conduct complex tests that simultaneously measure the combination of thermal and mechanical stresses on a component in a cyclic fashion, TDI explains.
The testing simulates low cycle fatigue (LCF) conditions by combining thermal with rotational speed, or mechanical load, on the component being tested. Current LCF testing methods use isothermal conditions, which do not account for the severe stresses experienced during rim-to-bore thermal gradient conditions, the company says.
Using Advanced Spin TMF testing, the actual performance of components under real-world conditions, such as high compressor bladed assemblies, can be replicated and analyzed with extremely high accuracy.
In addition to thermal mechanical fatigue testing, the testing rig offers additional capabilities, such as measurement and verification of the dimensional elastic/plastic growth of a part at operational speeds; full field strain measurement; and thermal gradient measurement.
01/26/2009
