Building Trust Through Innovation in Materials Testing: LTI and Tinius Olsen’s Collaborative Journey

Introduction

In the world of materials testing, precision and reliability are paramount. Companies in high-stakes industries such as aerospace, nuclear, and additive manufacturing depend on advanced technology to meet rigorous standards.

Based outside of Philadelphia, PA, Laboratory Testing Inc. (LTI) has been at the forefront of materials testing for over 40 years, ensuring that its clients receive the highest level of accuracy and efficiency. Its long-standing relationship with Tinius Olsen has played a crucial role in fostering innovation, streamlining testing processes, and enhancing overall efficiency.

A Relationship Built on Collaboration

LTI’s partnership with Tinius Olsen is more than just a customer-supplier relationship — it is a dynamic collaboration. Over the years, LTI has provided valuable feedback to Tinius Olsen, influencing the development of new and improved testing systems.

As Mechanical Testing Manager Paul Szczepaniak from LTI shares, “Being part of the actual product development is an interesting experience. There’s a good back and forth between the companies, because we see what we need, and Tinius Olsen is always willing to accommodate.” (Figure 1)

This direct engagement has resulted in tailored materials testing solutions that address real-world challenges, allowing LTI to optimize its operations, while contributing to the continuous evolution of Tinius Olsen’s technology.

Supporting Industries Through Innovative Solutions

To maintain an industry leadership position in the diverse range of industries it serves, LTI relies on sophisticated test systems that seamlessly integrate into its workflows. Tinius Olsen’s Horizon test system has been a game-changer for LTI, providing a streamlined and customizable platform that enhances data acquisition and usability.

“The ability to use that system and have it constantly updated has been invaluable,” says LTI’s Mechanical Testing Coordinator, Nathan Moyer. “Even if we request a specific feature, unless it’s an extremely complex demand, they generally implement it within a day or two.” This level of responsiveness and agility sets Tinius Olsen apart from its competitors, ensuring that partners like LTI can maintain its competitive edge.

Efficiency and Innovation with Non-Contact Extensometry

In high-volume materials testing environments, efficiency is key. LTI has significantly enhanced its operations with Tinius Olsen’s Vector Extensometer, which eliminates the limitations of traditional contact extensometers. The digital extensometer integrates adaptive AI capabilities with optical hardware to reduce test throughput times and complexity, automating the process of capturing strain and improving measurement accuracy, data consistency and operator safety. (Figure 2)

“Since it is non-contact, we could continuously run sample after sample and never have to re-verify the calibration of the extensometer,” Nathan explains. “And because it gives us digital, data-driven materials test processing, we have access to synchronized data in real-time, with virtually no lag.”

These advancements have minimized downtime, reduced costs, and improved throughput. The combination of Tinius Olsen’s precision hardware and sophisticated software has enabled LTI to optimize its testing processes like never before.

Reliability: The Backbone of Testing Operations

In a fast-paced and demanding industry, equipment reliability is non-negotiable. At LTI, almost every mechanical testing process involves a Tinius Olsen test system, from universal testing systems (UTMs) and hardness testers to impact test systems and melt flow indexers. Tinius Olsen systems form the backbone of LTI’s daily operations. This level of reliability ensures that LTI can meet the high standards required by its clients, while maintaining operational efficiency.

Driving Industry Innovation Together

Beyond advanced and innovative system offerings, Tinius Olsen’s active participation in ASTM standardization efforts further underscores its commitment to industry advancement. Paul shares, “If I receive a request from a customer that falls outside normal scopes, I can reach out to them and say, ‘Here’s what I’m trying to do. What can we do?’” This open collaboration has led to the development of custom instruments and unique testing setups that cater to LTI’s specific needs.

Moreover, Tinius Olsen’s commitment to swift customer support ensures that LTI experiences minimal downtime. “We just had a long-standing system go down, and Tinius Olsen had us back up in three days, whereas with another company, it could have taken weeks,” Paul highlights.

Conclusion

LTI’s decades-long relationship with Tinius Olsen exemplifies what true collaboration in materials testing looks like. Through constant innovation, responsive customer support, and advanced technology, Tinius Olsen has not only helped LTI optimize its processes, but has also played a pivotal role in advancing the materials testing industry as a whole.

For companies looking for a trusted partner in materials testing, the success story of LTI and Tinius Olsen speaks volumes. When precision, efficiency, and reliability matter most, Tinius Olsen delivers solutions that stand the test of time.

Hear it direct. Check out this video from Nathan and Paul at LTI about their experience working with Tinius Olsen.

Two Test Systems, One Software Platform

Technology innovations in materials testing aren’t just providing better data analytics, they are also providing improved testing efficiencies. In an industry predicated on long-standing industry standards that dictate the parameters of test results—including precision, repeatability and accuracy—we’re still finding ways and opportunities to improve testing efficiency across the industry and focus on improvements, where it makes sense.

Because the standards themselves don’t change much from year to year, we can seek other methods of process improvement. Digitizing test information using updated tools, like enhanced software packages, has allowed users to collect, manipulate, analyze, graph and store data in ways that previously were just not feasible. This ability to make testing data more actionable gives us deeper insights into our materials testing operations.

Streamlined Process Through Software Advancement

Prior to the use of intuitive software platforms, a computer system was typically needed for each testing set up. That also meant space was needed for each machine, test system, etc. Moving data analysis into a streamlined software process not only helps move our industry forward, but it’s also transforming how we can do things with better data insights and more efficient reporting, while enabling a smaller test system footprint on the testing floor. (Figure 1)

Fig. 1: Advancements in software platforms are providing a more holistic materials testing environment that both improves production and saves floor space within a facility.

Where space is at a premium, like in a lab where there is already quite a bit of existing infrastructure and the constant need to upgrade, with limited space to do so, materials testing software has completely changed how things are done. In the case of Horizon software from Tinius Olsen, there’s more than just space-saving benefits; it has the ability to manage both the test procedures and the automation, making data easily accessible, for everything ranging from R&D to charging and analysis functions of QC testing.

A Gamechanger On the Testing Floor

A recent application at a global polymer matrix composite manufacturer put Horizon’s capabilities to the test. An automated materials testing system using the software was built so that two independent automated tests – tensile (ASTM D638) and flexure (ASTM D790) – ran simultaneously on the same machine. The reduced scale of the system in footprint alone enabled a more efficient testing environment, and the physical assembly was complemented by enhanced digital data exchange across internal processes, which included a bar code led data flow, customized results, alerts and system status. (Figure 2)

Fig. 2: Running one software platform across multiple test environments can reduce the materials testing footprint needed, especially critical for upgrades in existing facilities.

Key to this testing set up is the robotic arm, which accesses the specimen rack and test frame for both machines, all running on a single Horizon software platform. Through just one automation cell, the two tests are performed, streamlining data, reducing latency and improving materials testing results.

Overall Operations Improved

Whether you’re controlling and gathering data from multiple melt indexers, hydraulic tensile testing machines, or electromechanical testing machines that are performing tensile, compression, flexural, tear, peel or other tests, Horizon can run all the tests and gather all the information in one place. In addition, the software features a recall function that enables you to add key data that is either not available or missed. All digital data is streamlined and easily accessible.

Once all data has been gathered, the software’s result editor and output editor can consolidate all data that has been generated into customizable reports, depending on what type of analysis you or your customers may need. Multiple graph types can be applied per test, like stress vs. strain, or load vs. time, and reports can be distributed across one PC, multiple PCs, or across a network for easy multi-team access, keeping everyone on the same page. (Figure 3)

Fig. 3: Intuitive software platforms, like Horizon from Tinius Olsen, enable streamlined data processing and more advanced results and analysis.

Confidence In Your Testing Methodology

If your testing regime follows a quality control analysis to a variety of international standards, be sure your software includes a built-in test method library built that enables you to select test methods that have been written in accordance with your applicable industry and international test standards.

The ability to customize the test setup using a standard as a template and a configurable database that facilitates sharing across several computers on a company’s network are also important aspects to consider, as this will allow the testing programs and testing data to be used by multiple systems.

As part of the software’s development process, Tinius Olsen took the best features of its existing software, including Test Navigator, QMat and EP600, added a host of report writing and data manipulation capabilities and created Horizon, now one of the most advanced software platforms for materials testing.

As we move forward as an industry, we should continue to develop the means to innovate the materials testing process by focusing not only on testing machines, but on the holistic process of our testing environments.

Sustainable Alternatives Gain Validation Through Materials Testing

The past few years have shown us that the world around us is finite and fragile. And we all play a part in its sustainability. There has been a push across several industries to develop inventive, forward-looking products and technologies, while maintaining a better balance with the environment for long-term global health.

With innovation comes the unknown. Will a newly developed material stand up to the defined ASTM or ISO standards or will the use of a different material in an existing application meet the required industry standard benchmarks? Standards exist to ensure product safety and quality, which is all for the benefit and protection of the end user.

Confidence in Material Innovations

As an industry, we are tasked with maintaining a level of confidence in the products and solutions being delivered, and standards are an important aspect of that. There are many promising examples of sustainable products that incorporate recyclable or biodegradable materials and also support an eco-friendly environment. But to be able to confidently put these innovations into the mainstream, companies still rely on materials testing to known industry standards and specifications.

Material testing provides the insight to gauge the useability of certain materials and products in specific environments. And in the world of eco-friendly material innovation, it has helped lay the groundwork to develop solutions beyond just delivery of a product, but also to help combat climate change, to increase types and quantities of materials that can be recycled, and ultimately open doors to innovations that are solving some real-world challenges.

Recycled Glass Aggregate

The collapse of I-95 in Philadelphia, PA seemed, at first, catastrophic. Initial calculations framed the road closure in years, then possibly over several months. So who would have thought that in a mere few weeks, this massive roadway connecting a large swath of the eastern United States would be up and running after such an epic event, using a sustainable material made from glass.

Recycled glass aggregate is not new. Formed by crushing glass into a powder, blending it with a foamy slurry, heating it and then breaking it into briquettes, the crushed aggregate is used in a number of construction applications, including as backfill or in roller applications. The size, shape, density and strength of the aggregate all affect its long-term performance in pavement and structures.

Testing of the ultra-lightweight foamed aggregate is critical to prove its efficacy and ensure it has the strength needed to bear the weight and force of heavy-duty construction. It also confirms that the aggregate is composed of a good mix of chemicals and materials that can compact to and withstand a certain force. Thanks to testing performed using Tinius Olsen equipment, the company developing the aggregate already had the results and data to know this aggregate could serve as the backfill for the temporary lanes constructed along the highway corridor.

Figure 1: Testing of the aggregate is carried out with Tinius Olsen equipment.

Sustainable Wool Rope

Seaweed farming itself is not only a sustainable source for fertilizer, bio-ethanol and livestock feed, but it helps negate carbon and nitrogen levels in the ocean as well as provides a healthy ecosystem for marine life. So the fact that non-recyclable, everlasting polypropylene rope is laid on the sea floor to grow the harvested seaweed counterbalances the environmentally-friendly aspects of growing a renewable resource. And this plastic rope is washing up on coastlines across the globe, rubbing against rocks, resulting in a hard plastic crust coating the coastlines.

But what if the rope was made of biodegradable wool that itself is sustainable and renewable. Would its physical properties still hold up as needed in the corrosive saltwater environment? Tinius Olsen is helping to answer this question.

Manufactured in a range of diameters, from small lengths to full coils, all of the wool rope currently produced is from local farms and craftspeople in the United Kingdom. But this paradigm shift for seaweed farming needs validation and is being accomplished through materials testing. By relying on proven equipment Tinius Olsen is helping to identify the proper breaking strain as well as design the special grips needed to hold the rope for proper testing.

Figure 2: The sustainable rope is used to farm seaweed and shellfish

Testing of Eco-friendly Innovations

In the world of materials testing, manufacturers turn to industry standards to enable them to validate, qualify and prove the viability of their products and raw materials. For materials pushing the envelope of what is known and acceptable, testing to a defined set of compliance levels becomes even more critically important.

Developing sustainable material alternatives and bringing them to market is no small feat. Testing validation is just one aspect of this process. Also of importance is a partner invested in the success of innovative product development and who has the technical knowledge and pedigree to deliver quality testing equipment to validate your product innovations.