ZwickRoell equips Hydro Aluminium laboratory with Kappa 50 DS for creep testing
Hydro Aluminium, a global company with branches in 40 countries worldwide, is present in all market segments for aluminum. Based in Norway and rooted in more than a century of experience in renewable energy, technology and innovation, Hydro is committed to strengthening the viability of its customers and communities, shaping a sustainable future through innovative aluminum solutions.
Aluminum is lightweight, strong, conductive, durable, and has qualities that make it a perfect fit for everything from food preservation to cell phones to airplanes - and it is easy to recycle. New fields of application have been discovered not only for the construction industry, the energy and automotive industries have also focused on aluminum components for several years.
These new applications, especially, require certainty of the mechanical properties. Aluminum and aluminum alloys are now used in a wide temperature range and over a long time period.
Hydro has approximately 120 employees in its research and development center in Bonn and has equipped its laboratory with a ZwickRoell electromechanical creep testing machine in order to determine the required mechanical properties of its materials. The Kappa 50 DS features a temperature chamber for creep and relaxation tests in the temperature range from ambient up to +250 °C. To meet Hydro’s needs and expectations, ZwickRoell designed a split load frame and developed a flexible solution for the temperature chamber, which guarantees it can be used in a second testing machine.
Precise strain measurement is extremely important for customers. The non-contacting videoXtens Array HP located outside of the temperature chamber with no influence on the specimen achieves the demanded accuracy class of 0.5 according to ISO 9513.
“Thanks to our partnership with ZwickRoell, we were able to create custom solutions for testing aluminum from which our factories and our customers equally benefit.” – Johannes Aegerter, Hydro Bonn
