The Inner Values are the Ones that Count
codex develops and produces products for professional installations of tile and natural stone. To meet their high quality standards, teams in the quality control and development divisions perform tests on new product developments and building materials. The AllroundLine universal testing machine from ZwickRoell is there to provide a broad level of support.
The newcomers: new raw materials, development products and building materials
What do new building materials look like on the inside? How suitable is a new material for a particular application? ZwickRoell’s AllroundLine delivers the answers to these questions.
New raw materials, development products and building materials such as decoupling mats are examined in terms of different properties such as sealing, adhesive strength and much more. Specimens are machined from different building materials and subjected to loads that are strong enough to cause them to break. Some materials testing machines generally do not record data prior to specimen destruction. “For our analyses, the time before break is of high significance,” said Andreas Heumann with codex. “This is why we invested in a materials testing machine that can deliver this data with reliability: the AllroundLine from ZwickRoell.”
Tensile, compression, shear and flexure tests – the AllroundLine takes care of them all
Tests performed with the AllroundLine floor-standing testing machine provide information about these material characteristics. The AllroundLine is a universal testing machine that can be equipped for different tests. These include tensile tests, compression tests, flexure tests, shear tests, and more.
Example: two different adhesive materials are tested for quality. For both specimens, the respective adhesive is applied between a cover layer and a substrate. The prepared specimens are inserted in the AllroundLine and tested in a three-point flexure test. There are significant differences: the adhesive material provides high security potential if it can compensate for the forces between the covering and the substrate in such a way that it delays breakage. If the specimen breaks significantly earlier and in a vigorous manner, the adhesive is hard and brittle, which renders it useless for further processing and application.
Tests in a temperature range of -80 to +250°C
But that is not all: temperature differences also influence the quality of the materials. In different temperatures from cold to hot, materials can act differently, which again affects the quality of the material. To reflect these conditions, codex also tests their materials in a temperature range of -80 to +250°C with the use of a ZwickRoell temperature chamber. A highly compatible and comprehensive portfolio of accessories further expands the system and range of applications.
testXpert: one testing software solution for EVERYTHING
A testing machine alone is not enough. Our testXpert testing software is used to record the test and test data. Since standard-compliant testing is extremely important, the standard test program for minimum, maximum and average force in the measurement displacement provides comprehensive support. This is very simple: all relevant setting are pre-defined in the standard test programs: test speed, results, test sequence and many other required settings for the respective standard. With only one click and the selection of the corresponding standard test program, standard-compliant testing is guaranteed.
But that is not all: All other tests at codex, that reach beyond the standards, are covered with the master test program for cyclic tests. This allows codex to individually define the test sequence in detail on the basis of predefined or self-designed parameters. The temperature is also controlled via testXpert, so that codex can easily map all relevant information on any test and all components in just one software solution.
