Portable polymer tester
AssigneeAtomic Energy of Canada Limited
InventorsFabrice GUEROUT, Ladji CISSE, Richard BOOR
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention provides a polymer indentation method and tester that includes measuring the time taken by a polymeric material to recover a set portion of an initial deformation and use this duration as a material degradation indicator. The recovery time was found to be more sensitive to cable degradation than the specific compressive stillness (or indenter modulus) measured during the indentation phase, and this high sensitivity was achieved for both thermally aged and irradiated polymer.
Claims4
-22. (canceled)
A testing device for measuring physical characteristics of a polymeric or elastomeric material, said device comprising:
- (a) an indenter probe;
- (b) a drive system for effecting movement of said probe, said drive system comprising a motorized linear slide and stage operatively associated with the probe to advance said probe from a first position to a second position to deform said polymeric or elastomeric material, and to effect retraction of said probe to a predetermined intermediate position between said first and second positions;
- (c) a force/displacement measurement system including means for measuring force at the tip of said probe during contact with said polymeric or elastomeric material and means for measuring displacement of the probe;
- and
- (d) a control system configured to at least temporarily suspend retraction of the indenter probe at the predetermined intermediated position and to continue retraction, in response to sensing engagement between the force displacement measurement system and the polymeric or elastomeric material, after the deformed polymeric or elastomeric material has at least partially recovered;
- wherein the drive system provides:
- stage travel of at least 5 mm;
- a step resolution of about 0.010 μm to about 0.1 μm;
- a measurement resolution of about 0.010 μm to about 0.1 μm;
- a motor dynamic stall force of about 30 N to about 34 N;
- a motor static hold force of about 26 N to about 30 N;
- and
- a motor operating temperature range of −10 to 50° C.
The testing device of claim 1, wherein the drive system provides:
- stage travel of about 40 mm;
- step resolution of about 10 nm;
- measurement resolution of about 10 nm;
- motor dynamic stall force of about 32 N;
- motor static hold force of about 28 N;
- and
- motor operating temperature range of about 0 to about 50° C.
A testing device for measuring physical characteristics of a polymeric or elastomeric material, said device comprising:
- (a) an indenter probe;
- (b) a drive system for effecting movement of said probe, said drive system comprising a motorized linear slide and stage operatively associated with the probe to advance said probe from a first position to a second position to deform said polymeric or elastomeric material, and to effect retraction of said probe to a predetermined intermediate position between said first and second positions;
- (c) a force/displacement measurement system including means for measuring force at the tip of said probe during contact with said polymeric or elastomeric material and means for measuring displacement of the probe;
- and (d) a control system configured to at least temporarily suspend retraction of the indenter probe at the predetermined intermediated position and to continue retraction, in response to sensing engagement between the force displacement measurement system and the polymeric or elastomeric material, after the deformed polymeric or elastomeric material has at least partially recovered;
- wherein operating parameters for the testing device are:
- a force measurement range of about 0 to about 20 N;
- a maximum positioning rate of about 5 mm/s;
- a minimum positioning resolution of about 0.1 μm;
- an oscillation amplitude of about 1 to about 100 μm;
- an oscillation frequency of about 0.1 to about 100 Hz;
- and
- an operating temperature of about 15° C. to about 50° C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.