Plastometrex debuts MultiScale mechanical testing for thin components
Plastometrex, a developer of mechanical testing solutions based in Cambridge, UK, has debuted its MultiScale capability. This is designed to capture high-resolution mechanical property variation across thin, welded and complex geometries that may be inaccessible through conventional mechanical testing.
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MultiScale was developed in response to a common gap in mechanical testing and enables engineers and materials scientists to:
- Test directly on components and specimens as thin as 0.75 mm without destructive sectioning
- Map mechanical properties across welds and complex geometries with 1.5 mm indent spacing, providing insight into local variations and process performance
As with the PLX-Benchtop, MultiScale is supported by Plastometrex’s ASTM-standardised PIP Testing (Profilometry-based Indentation Plastometry), a physics-based approach that extracts stress-strain curves from indentation test data using accelerated inverse finite element analysis. This testing methodology non-destructively gathers yield and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) data from an automated five-minute test. The standard indenter size in every PLX-Benchtop device is 1000 µm. With the addition of the MultiScale capability, users now have access to 250 µm and 500 µm indenters.
“We developed the MultiScale capability to give engineers access to the data they’ve been missing,” stated Dr Jimmy Campbell, CTO at Plastometrex. “Many of our users work with parts that are too thin or geometrically complex for conventional mechanical testing. We wanted to change that, to make it possible to test the untestable and capture reliable property data wherever it’s needed.”
According to the company, MultiScale has already been used by NASA to characterise local variations in mechanical properties within spaceflight components. By mapping stress-strain responses across an additively manufactured part, process-structure-property relationships were revealed. This information was said to inform manufacturing optimisation and reduce conservative safety factors. One reported finding was that yield strength fell by approximately 15% as wall thickness decreased: an insight which would have been missed by tensile testing.
Dr Mike Coto, CCO at Plastometrex, added, “MultiScale gives users the ability to zoom in on the fine details that drive overall performance. That level of resolution supports more efficient design decisions, whether that means adjusting print parameters, refining weld procedures, or reducing unnecessary safety margins while maintaining structural integrity.”
The MultiScale capability is now available to all PLX-Benchtop users through the CORSICA+ subscription.
