Leistritz leverages Zwick’s technology to meet ASTM creep test requirements

German manufacturer Leistritz Turbinenkomponenten Remscheid GmbH produces components for the aircraft industry and the energy sector, together with high-end forgings such as turbines and engine components made from super alloys and lightweight materials. Quality assurance requires adherence to the ASTM standards applicable to the aircraft industry for production control. Thanks to recent modernizations by Zwick, Leistritz’s testing machines now satisfy ASTM and Nadcap requirements. Nadcap (see pri-network for more information) is a cooperative program of major aerospace and automotive companies for the certification and continuous improvement of special production processes.

Leistritz’s Quality Assurance Laboratory employs a variety of materials testing machines from various manufacturers, including Zwick, and recently three ESH creep test machines were retrofitted with the latest state-of-the-art Zwick technology. Before the modernisation these machines could only be used for DIN quality control, as their age and condition precluded ASTM testing due to the requirements for alignment calibration and better control of specimen temperature in the high-temperature furnace.

Leistritz and Zwick have long enjoyed a relationship based on mutual confidence and Leistritz value Zwick as a supplier of high quality materials testing machines as well as after-sales support. For this interesting project the Zwick retrofit team came up with a totally customer-orientated solution which fulfilled the ASTM requirements, and more than exceeded the customer’s needs and expectations.

As a first step a new furnace with modern temperature controls was installed on each machine and, to save valuable laboratory space, the furnace controls were installed into the base of the machines.

Industrial Personal Computers (IPCs) with an IP64 protection rating were also supplied to address the need for powerful and compact operation. These products are ideal for production environments and require considerably less space than ordinary desktop PC’s. Giving the customer significant ergonomic benefits they were mounted to the load frames using a pivoting arm.

The previous hand operated levelling assembly was replaced with a motorised system which is automatically controlled by limit switches in order to keep the lever arm level as the specimen elongates during the heating and testing phases.

Zwick’s modernization components, testControl and testXpert® testing software, are an integral part of the package, and can be used for the control and data acquisition of a high-temperature extensometer. As these are standardised components any future software / firmware upgrades can easily be installed whenever required.

Leistritz are delighted with the retrofits as the machines can now be used for ASTM testing avoiding the extra cost of either contracting out the testing or purchasing new systems. In fact they were so impressed by the results that they have ordered four more modernizations.

Leistritz carries out tests to the following Standards:

• ASTM E21-05 (Standard Test Methods for Elevated Temperature Tension Tests of Metallic Material)
• ASTM E292-01 (ASTM E292-01 Standard Test Methods for Conducting Time-for-Rupture Notch Tension Tests of Materials)
• ASTM E139 – 00 (Standard Test Methods for Conducting Creep, Creep-Rupture, and Stress-Rupture Tests of Metallic Materials)
  ISO/DIS 204 (Metallic materials - Uniaxial creep testing in tension - Method of test)