Tensile strength testers and impact strength testers are standard equipment for characterizing the mechanical properties of materials.
Rationale: The ability to determine tensile and impact strength would be particularly useful for the development and tuning of 3D printing post-processing steps. Specifically, two post-processing steps are also being proposed as Science committee group projects namely print smoothing and metal plating. It is anticipated that exposing the surface to solvent and then allowing it to reflow may have some effect on the strength of the parts (potentially improving z-axis strength by fusing the outer layer lines or weakening the print if excessive exposure occurs). This would allow us to optimize the vapor smoothing process. Additionally, it has been reported that a metal plated layer can greatly improve the mechanical properties of prints depending on the quality of plating.
Second, a tensile strength tester may be of use to fiber arts and/or any fabric related science project such as the radiative cooling project. It would be good to determine if any treatments of the fabric reduce strength and to what degree. Additional spun fibers and yarns such as those created with electrospinning, wet-spinning, or a spinning wheel can be characterized for their strength in order to optimize those processes. If we make a rope out of chitosan for example, it would probably be good to know how much weight it can support compared with a nylon or cotton rope.
Additionally, while this would be outside the scope of the Science committee, this would also support optimization of printing processing parameters. Additionally, 3D print strengthening techniques such as brick layers and/or z-pinning (See:https://www.cnckitchen.com/blog/brick-layers-make-3d-prints-stronger or https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/discussions/4815) . The modification of 3D printing equipment and the development of custom firmware would fall under the purview of the 3D Printing Committee but this would assist them in doing that if they are interested.
Approximate Cost: $200
Example Reference Design: https://www.instructables.com/Universal-Tensile-Testing-Machine-VERSION-TWO/
