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Bespoke Mechanical Testing Services

Mechanical testing involves subjecting a material or component to forces in order to evaluate how it reacts. These tests are vital for design parameters, ensuring that components or structures are safe and suitable for their intended use.

Mechanical tests demonstrate how a material or part will behave under specific loading conditions. It is commonly used for safety, quality control and integrity data.

Mechanical Test Types

Common types of mechanical test include:

  • Compression Testing: Uses forces to squeeze a material
  • Creep Testing: Measures material deformation when subjected to a constant stress over time, typically at high temperatures
  • Fatigue Testing: Determines a material lifespan when subjected to progressive damage as a result of cyclic loading
  • Flexural Testing: Determines a material’s response to bending
  • Hardness Testing: Assesses resistance to shape-changing damage
  • Impact Testing: Determines a material’s resilience to being struck - examples include Charpy and Izod tests
  • Tensile Testing: Uses uniaxial tension to pull a material or part in opposite directions until failure
  • Torsion Testing: Applies a twisting force to measure resistance to torsional stresses

These tests can be combined and altered to create bespoke testing regimes, according to the needs of the end application.

Core Research Programme (CRP) and Joint Industry Projects (JIP)

Core Research

Each year the TWI Core Research Programme (CRP) addresses challenges on behalf of our Industrial Members as well as developing specific technologies and processes. Each of the projects under the CRP is focussed on engineering, materials or manufacturing technologies.

Find out more here

Joint Industry Projects

TWI also conducts Joint Industry Projects (JIPs) that bring together groups of Industrial Members to share the cost of research activities in areas of mutual industrial interest, gaining exclusive access to the outcomes. These projects cover a broad range of topics.

Find out more here

Mechanical Testing at TWI

TWI is a world leader in developing tailor-made mechanical testing designs and methodologies. Our expertise enables us to support consultancy and research projects for our Members.

We have the unique capability to combine mechanical and environmental test methods. TWI offers an extensive range of mechanical testing services including state-of-the-art equipment and expertise in a wide range of materials. This allows us to recreate the kind of conditions components will be exposed to when in service.

We build custom mechanical testing facilities that can accommodate myriad combinations of component geometry, loading conditions, environmental conditions and failure parameters.

All tests carried out at TWI are conducted by experienced engineers, adept at working with different equipment types and drawing meaningful analyses from the generated data.

Bespoke mechanical tests have the potential to benefit a number of industries reliant on understanding material and mechanical properties. Much of our recent work in this area has been concerned with pressure equipment used by the oil and gas, power and petrochemical process sectors. We have also researched the fatigue performance of high-strength steel mooring chains used on floating offshore structures, including wind turbines. These tests are carried out in seawater to simulate the typical corrosion conditions and cyclic loading experienced offshore.

Our experts can carry out a variety of mechanical tests, including tensile testing (tension), shear testing, Charpy testing, and a wide range of other bespoke and standard tests.

TWI Mechanical Testing Facilities Include:

  • High-pressure hydrogen testing facilities
  • Small, medium and large-scale testing in H2S (equipment design, build and operation for static and dynamic testing in sour and sweet conditions)
  • Facilities to supply NDT, mechanical and corrosion testing to international acceptance standards
  • Rapid decompression testing
  • Fluid compatibility testing

For more Information on our full range of mechanical and materials testing services, or to discuss your bespoke testing requirements, please email:

contactus@twi.co.uk


More Information

For more information please email:


contactus@twi.co.uk