Hill Engineering is committed to providing high-quality residual stress measurement data to its customers, both in our laboratory and on-site. Our Residual Stress Field Team is equipped with the same knowledge and expertise as our laboratory team to meet the challenge of performing residual stress measurements in the field.
Our Residual Stress Field Team has the experience necessary to tailor each measurement approach to meet the unique needs of the customer and bring our world-class residual stress measurement capabilities to the place it matters most – the operational environment. Challenging measurement access, complex geometry, and applications requiring rapid turn time are just a few situations where our team and equipment excel, allowing us to assess both near-surface and bulk residual stress in components that are delicate, large, or otherwise unable to be sent to our laboratory for in-house testing.
Hill Engineering’s Residual Stress Field Team can perform testing on-site for components that are too large to ship to our laboratory
From a quality control perspective, measurements performed in the field allow customers to get a detailed glimpse of their manufacturing process, as measurements can be carried out shortly before or after a critical step, such as heat treatment, all without having the component leaving the manufacturing line, saving time for the customer.
On-site measurements and services that are available through our field team include:
The Hill Engineering Residual Stress Field Team, with its ability to perform on-site residual stress measurements, is just one of the ways we offer flexible, precise, and high-quality residual stress testing to our customers. Their mobility, coupled with advanced technology, ensures that the science of engineering is not confined to laboratories but can thrive in real-world environments where innovation truly takes flight.
If you have any questions about the capabilities of our Residual Stress Field Team and how it can help your project, please contact us.
We are always trying to improve upon existing techniques and explore new methods so we can assure our customers that they are receiving the best services we have to offer.
After we spread out into our new laboratory space, we found some interesting things during the move that were hidden away. Something that caught our eye was a project a member of our lab team did, dealing with applying a strain gage to the inner diameter of a long tube with limited access.
Strain gages feature in a large portion of the residual stress measurements we perform at Hill Engineering, which is why we pride ourselves on our ability to correctly choose and apply strain gages to fit any measurement needs.
Strain gages are devices used to measure strain on the surface of an object. These strain measurements can be used to infer the amount of stress induced on the object, as is done with many types of residual stress measurements.
Additionally, strain gages can be used to measure things such as aircraft wing deflection, bridge cable creep, and tensile testing for material properties, making them an ideal tool for in-field measurements.
Strain gages come in many shapes and sizes and can measure strain in a single direction or in multiple directions, depending on the goal of the experiment. Strain gages can be used on a wide variety of materials under many conditions, such as in extreme temperatures or underwater.
Hill Engineering has extensive experience with strain gage application and can help design the experiment needed to reach your project’s goals. Strain gage application can be performed in our laboratory or at your site, to your specifications.
Strain gage application is useful for:
Applications requiring in-field measurements with portable equipment
Measuring strain in multiple directions
Parts in every shape and size – nothing is too big or too small
Measuring residual stress
If you’re interested in how we apply a strain gage to a simple specimen, watch our video:
Strain gages are a key component of many of the residual stress measurements that we perform at Hill Engineering. These small but mighty sensors can also be used for other experiments, and this is something that we highlight in our recent case study.
A representative composite overwrapped pressure vessel. Image courtesy of CompositesWorld: https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/thermoplastic-composite-pressure-vessels-for-fcvs
We’re putting something in a bottle, and no, it’s not an SOS to the world. It’s a strain gage!
Hill Engineering has recently developed technology to orient and apply strain gages inside a pressure vessel with restricted interior access. Continue reading Strain gage in a bottle
Strain gages are key tools when performing residual stress measurements. By tracking the electrical resistance change of the strain gage foil, we can evaluate strain through material deformation. In our vlog presented below, we demonstrate how to apply a strain gage on an aluminum tensile specimen. While the setup described in the video is simple, we are capable of applying strain gages to much more complex geometries to fit the needs of our residual stress tests. For more information or any questions about your residual stress needs, please contact us.
