Reimers, Anthony Steven (2010) Design and Manufacture of a Mechanical Fatigue Testing Machine. [USQ Project]
Abstract
Long term fatigue behaviour is a critical issue for designing composite structures, such as aircraft components, bridges etc. The fatigue data of composite materials for 108 cycles are needed for designing critical composite structures. Normally the fatigue testing is done using hydraulic testing machines which have high operational and maintenance costs. For these reasons, the University requires a smaller, less expensive piece of testing equipment to obtain the fatigue data of composites. Therefore, the main aim of the project is to design a mechanical fatigue testing device whose components will be manufactured or purchased by the University and then assembled to replace the already existing hydraulic fatigue testing machine.
The mechanical system of the machine has been designed and the drawings have been sent to the University workshop for manufacturing to be commenced. The flexural fatigue machine is driven by a crank-slider mechanism which is powered by a 1HP 3-phase motor that is controlled by a Variable Speed Drive. The slider mechanism applies a cyclic non zero based load to the composite specimen once it has been preloaded.
The electronic system of the design has been designed with the exception of the microcontroller circuit device to read the sensors and control the motor. The force applied to the specimen is measured and also the number of cycles applied to the specimen. The machine is designed to shut down the motor once the test specimen fails.
The results from the testing and evaluation of the design have been extremely positive and the final prototype design is ready to go into production.
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Item Type: | USQ Project |
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Item Status: | Live Archive |
Additional Information: | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Engineering and Surveying - No Department (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
Supervisors: | Epaarachchi, Jayantha |
Qualification: | Bachelor of Engineering and Business |
Date Deposited: | 20 Feb 2024 01:45 |
Last Modified: | 20 Feb 2024 01:45 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Mechanical Fatigue Testing Machine; microcontroller circuit device; design; Manufacture |
URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52075 |
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