Research infrastructures on Engineering Materials
Here we have gathered the research infrastructures of which we are a part of.
LUMIA - Luleå Material Imaging and Analysis
LUMIA is a merger of four laboratories that perform micro-analysis of various solid materials in 2D/3D/4D.
Within LUMIA, analytical research expertise and advanced analytical equipment have been brought together to create a forum for groundbreaking research and analysis of various materials. LUMIA acts as a hub for the technical analytical capacity at the university and this experimental environment for advanced materials analysis is a creative meeting place for researchers, students, and companies.
Read more about LUMIA here.
TMTEST Infrastructure Project
The national thermo-mechanical and tribology infrastructure (TMTEST) at Luleå University of Technology (LTU) has been set up in 2016 with support from Swedish Foundation of Strategic Research, Kempestiftelserna and Luleå University of Technology. The infrastructure is well-equipped to collect material property data in extreme experimental and environmental conditions. The TMTEST infrastructure has been strengthened further with the addition of new high temperature equipments; Gleeble 3800 and high temperature universal tribometer.
Equipment at TMTEST
TMTEST offers the equipment for high temperature properties of materials. The Gleeble 3800 and high temperature tribometer have been added to the TMTEST infrastructure.
The Gleeble 3800 is a thermal-mechanical simulator offered by Dynamic Systems Inc. It includes a high-speed heating system, a servo-hydraulic system, and a computer control and data acquisition system.
Gleeble 3800 applications fall into two main categories. The most common filing is dynamic thermal mechanical testing. Samples are heated and mechanically processed while various performance parameters of interest, such as change in force, elongation and sample diameter, are measured and recorded for analysis. The second application is the physical simulation of processes. The Gleeble 3800 can reproduce the thermal and mechanical processes in the laboratory that a material is subjected to during the manufacturing process such as quenching and powder metallurgy.
The technical specifications of the Gleeble 3800 provided by DSI are shown below:
| Force | Maximum compressive force | 20 metric tons |
| Maximum tensile force | 10 metric tons | |
| Stroke | Maximum stroke distance | 125 mm |
| Maximum stroke speed | 2000 mm / sec | |
| Minimum stroke speed | .001 mm / sec | |
| Temperature control | Maximum temperature | 3000 ° C |
| Maximum heating rate | 10000 ° C / sec | |
| Maximum extinguishing rate | 10000 ° C / sec | |
| Maximum sample size | 20 mm diameter |
Opportunities for the Gleeble 3800:
| Material testing programs | Physical simulations |
| - Hot/hot tensile/compression testing- Uniaxial compression- Plane stress compression- Strain Induced Crack Opening (SICO)- Stress vs strain curves- Melting and solidification- Nile strength testing- Hot ductility testing- Thermal cycling / heat treatment- Dilatometry / phase transformation- Stress relaxation studies- Creep / stress rupture- Fatigue (thermal, thermal/mechanical) | - Continuous casting- Mushy zone machining- Extrusion- Welding HAZ cycles- Diffusion bonding- Continuous strip annealing- Heat treatment- Quenching- Powder metallurgy/sintering- Synthesis (SHS) |
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Modular High Temperature Universal Tribometer by Rtec Instruments
The Universal Tribometer has a modular design with the ability to arrange different settings based on the needs of the test. This modular model can include various interchangeable settings, such as Rotation setup (ball or pin-on-disc setup, different load ranges of nN to 3000mN, 3000mN to 30N, up to 5000N), reciprocating unit (up to 70 Hz/500 Hz, pin or ball on the plate, fretting test), blocking ring setup (sliding speed up to 10000 rpm, for bearings, rings or seals, hourly test), torque or drill setup and four ball setups (TCT; EP wear time measurements, lubricant, oil, grease, metalworking, etc. testing). The modular design of the universal tribometer also includes the choice to install different environmental chambers, such as high temperature oven for dry sliding (temperature range 25-1000 o C), high temperature oven for liquid/lubricant/oil/grease etc, ball or pin-disk sliding test (temperature range: 25-500 o C), low temperature oven for sliding test (temperature range: -60 to 25 o C), vacuum chamber and humidifier for sliding test in controlled environment. Other mechanical tests can also be performed, such as scratch test, room temperature or high temperature hardness test (Brinell or Rockwell), fatigue, creep, tensile, elasticity and 2/3/4 point bending test. In addition, the universal tribometer also has the ability to install integrated imaging modules, such as interferometer, AFM or confocal microscopy; making it easier to perform in-situ surface studies of treads without taking samples from tools, such as topography, wear volume, roughness, 3D images, etc.
Tribological test modular settings available on our Rtec universal tribometer have the following modular design capabilities:
- Room temperature driven slidingsetup
This setup consists of rotary drive for friction and wear tests that can move clockwise (CW), counterclockwise (CCW) or both in a sequential motion in a single test. Normal load (Fz) can be applied in the range of 1-100N and the rotation speed has a range of 0.1-5000 rpm. This setting can also be used for mutual test lower frequency range. - High temperature oven for dry sliding
This setting includes installing a high temperature oven, which can go up to 1000 o C. Ball or disk dryslidingcan be performed with normal loads up to 100 N and the rotation speed range 0,1-5000 rpm. - Liquid chamber for tribological studies of lubricants
This setup includes a liquid chamber that can be used to study lubricants, such as grease, oil or emulsions, to study room temperature shear or reciprocating samples. The normal load can be applied in the range of 1-100N and the rotational speed range of 0.1-5000 rpm. - High temperature furnace for lubricants
This setting can be used to study the stribeck curve using balls or sliding agents as lubricants, such as grease, oil or emulsions, at high temperature up to 500 o C. The normal load can be applied in the range of 1-100 N, and the rotation speed range 0.1-5000 rpm. - Scratch solutions
Scratch solutions can be applied using the ball or pin on the disc to characterize the adhesion of coatings with load from 1 to 100 N.
Overview and scientific aims of TMTEST
- Establishing robust characterization methods to obtain thermo-physical/mechanical data on the materials behavior for their lifetime used in automotive, aerospace, energy devices and structural applications.
- Developing a fundamental understanding of mechanical behavior of metals and alloys, ceramics, and composites in thermo-mechanical environment at high temperatures required for emerging technologies.
- Collecting test data in extreme conditions such as rapid heating and cooling, application of high strain rates, fast dilatometry to produce new and novel materials with superior properties.
- Introducing and broadening the process simulation methods of materials of industrial interest e.g. light weight alloys, heavy alloys, nano-structured steels, high temperature and high strength ceramics and composites for aerospace, automotive and fusion energy applications.
- To study microstructure evolution of materials in real time to unveil mechanisms controlling the mechanical behavior of materials and provide a new and rapid method for microstructure characterization during processing over conventional tedious observation procedure
Contact
Farid Akhtar
- Professor
- 0920-491793
- farid.akhtar@ltu.se
- Farid Akhtar
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