Materials Laboratory and Testing

In analyzing a failure or accident, additional examination of the evidence and/or testing may be required. AEGI has a well equipped inspection area, as well as the capability to design and conduct testing, and re-creations of events. Our materials laboratory is equipped to handle the most detailed examinations.

Testing

AEGI has conducted numerous instrumented tests. Projects have included the following:

High speed and low speed vehicle crash tests, involving automobiles and motorcycles.

Vehicle roll-over tests

Operational tests of various appliances

Burn rate and timing tests on stoves

UL tests of various components

Various recreations of accident situations

Materials Laboratory

AEGI has a well equipped materials laboratory. The major capabilities are as follows:

Microscopy – AEGI has a stereomicroscope, metallograph, and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) capabilities. The SEM also has Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), which can qualitatively and semi-quantitatively identify elements in a sample. These allow AEGI to analyze any flaws in a material as well as examine fracture surfaces to determine the failure origin as well as the mode.

Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (Philips XL40 SEM manufactured by Philips/FEI Company with a IXRF 873-3771-1B EDS detector coupled to a IXRF 550i processing unit)
Stereo-Optical Microscope .21-11.5X magnification (Olympus SZX16 with attached UC50 digital camera)
Metallurgical Microscope 200-1600X magnification (Unitron Series N, No: 54879)

Metallography – The materials laboratory has all the necessary equipment for metallographic sample preparation and analysis to include metalized and carbon sputter coating capabilities.

Metallurgical sample preparation: cold and hot mounts with final polish down to .5 micron alumina
Sputter coater (SPI): carbon and gold/palladium

Mechanical Properties Analysis – This allows AEGI to determine the properties of a material, or to determine if a material meets a suppliers product specifications. AEGI has the following equipment.

Instron universal test machine which is capable of testing tension or compression up to 20,000 lbs. load. Other capabilities include testing in torsion and fatigue loading.
Wilson hardness tester which can measure Rockwell A, B, or C.
Leco M-400 microhardness tester which can measure both Vickers and Knoop.
Proceq Equo-tip portable hardness tester which can measure material hardness in the field.
Bruker Tensor 27 Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)

CT Scanning – Industrial Computed Tomography (CT) is a 100% non-destructive scanning technology delivering a 3D digital reconstruction of artifacts from the inside-out. Scannable objects can be up to 32" in diameter and 48" long. 3D CT capabilities effectively remove potential assessment errors found with visual Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) or Digital Radiography (DR) alone. Results are provided in a user-friendly software for fast analysis, producing a 360° 3D scan of your artifact capable of multi-slice review, calibration, or pin-point accurate visualization. If your needs require special cuts or views, AEGI is equipped with subpiX, mosaiX, and vorteX capabilities as well.

North Star Imaging's (NSI) subpiX uses a redesigned motion system and a proprietary algorithm to generate images with improved resolution that are typically double of what the detector alone is capable of achieving. Advantages include overall higher resolution, better signal-to-noise ratios & contrast-to-noise ratios, larger field of view for a given resolution, higher frame rates, providing faster acquisitions.

NSI's mosaiX utilizes a redesigned manipulator and a proprietary algorithm to stitch multiple images forming one seamless image with a much larger field of view. With mosaiX the effective imaging field of view is no longer limited by the detector panel size, and can now be expanded as large as the cabinet can accommodate.

NSI's vorteX spiral CT is one of the most innovative developments offered in the industry. vorteX is an automated single pass computed tomography scanning technique utilizing spiral acquisition and reconstruction with a digital flat-panel detector.

Portable Digital Radiography (DR) System – Completely self-contained and 100% mobile. AEGI continues to showcase industry standard, DICONDE compliant equipment with the ability to provide radiographs where you need us most, whether that is in the field or at our on-site materials lab. We utilize a portable x-ray system partnered with industry leading software. Together, with one of AEGI's certified technicians, we are capable of providing digital radiographs on demand. The NOVO equipment we utilize boasts "Genie" technology to automatically adjust clarity and light leveling on the most difficult of shots. Coupled with the ability to stich any set of images, there is no limit to the size of a radiograph.

Emboss - creates 3D view of image
Measure - choice of measurement units to show calibrated size of artifact within an image
DWT - Double Wall Thickness Technique Tool - Converting Gray Level into Material Thickness
Line Profile - Fast, Easy & Automatic Wall Thickness Measurements
Automated Spatial Resolution

* All our DR and CT scans are compliant with ASTM E2699 & E2767 Digital Imaging and Communication in Nondestructive Evaluation (DICONDE) standards.

Keywords: Metallurgy, Metallurgical, Metallography, metallurgist, HRC, HRB, HRA, HV, Metallograph, EDAX, EDX, compression, tension, polishing, etching, sample preparation, ceramic, polymer, plastic, sputter coat, sputter coating, metallized sputter coat, metallized sputter coating, carbon sputter coating, carbon sputter coat, sectioning.