Award-Winning
Characterization Tool
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(Photo by Curtis Boles; enhanced by Judy Neeley) |
ORNL’s Ken Liu (left) and
Jy-An Wang show the spiral notch torsion test system they developed with
Inventure Laboratories of Knoxville, which received an R&D 100 Award
in 2002 from R&D magazine as one of the 100 most significant
innovations of the year. (ORNL won two other R&D 100 Awards this year.)
This portable system tests the resistance to cracking and strength of
materials—such as ceramics, composites, polymers, carbon foam, and
concrete—to be used in designs.
Knowledge of material strengths and weaknesses helps engineers set limits in structural designs so that certain materials are not used under conditions (e.g., high temperatures) unsuited to the strengths of that material. This system will provide engineers with state-of-the-art materials testing and analysis to aid in design work with the primary aim of preventing accidental cracking or breaking of the structural materials.
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