Department of ElectroMechanical, Systems and Metal Engineering

Tension and compression testing services

Soete bespoke test setup 8000kN

At Soete we use the force and our comprehensive mind to determine the tension.

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To perform (non-) standardized static and dynamic (fatigue) tests on (full-scale) components, our machines with capacities up to 8000kN are adjustable with custom specimen grip fixtures. If required, customer specific grips can be designed and manufactured at Soete laboratory.

Tension-compression tests can be used in various types of standardized and non-standardized test: tensile/compression tests to determine the stress-strain response of a material or component, slip tests of connections, fatigue test to perform lifetime assessment and/or define a s-n curve…

Servo-hydraulic controlled setup
Quasi-static load capacity up to 8000kN (tensile) and 4000kN (compression)
Dynamic load capacity up to 1850kN (tensile and compression)
Dedicated instrumentation to measure applied loads and deformations by using calibrated load cells, LVDT’s, extensometers, clip gauges, strain gauges, Digital Image Correlation (DIC)…
Environmental chambers are available to control temperature, humidity and corrosion environment

Case studies & test equipment

Large scale thrust bearing test setup

investigate the friction and wear behavior of axial thrust washers, more particularly pintle bearings.

Investigate the friction and wear behavior of axial thrust washers, more particularly pintle bearings.

RR Moore Rotating Beam Fatigue Testing System

Perform fatigue testing at higher frequencies, up to 166Hz, leading to faster actionable data compared to axial fatigue testing.

Perform fatigue testing at higher frequencies.

Full scale 4-point bend setup of pipes

Full scale bending with internal pressure (64bar) of a ball joint pipe with OD of 400mm.

internal pressure fatigue

4 point bending test equipment

Featured to perform fatigue tests in 3- or 4 point bending of beams and girders. Typical examples are rails for tracks or train applications and leaf springs.

Bending of girders and rails

Universal Multipurpose test rigs up to 2500kN

Featured to perform various types of tests, e.g.: tensile tests, fatigue testing of welded components, four-point bend tests, …

MTS 1000kN with DIC setup

Bespoke test setup up to 8000kN

Our high capacity test setup allows testing on a variety of test pieces in static loading (round bar and flat strip tests, notched tensile tests, cross-weld tensile tests)

Soete bespoke test setup 8000kN

Large scale bearing test setup

Investigate the friction and wear behavior of large journal bearings operating in boundary lubrication or dry friction regimes.

Large Scale Bearing setup

Small scale tribometers type pin-on-disk

Wazou, Pin-On-Disk and High Temperature (HTH) CSM Tribometer are some of our small scale tribometers.

Our CSM tribometer

Conveyor chain wear test-rig

The conveyor chain test-rig is a full scale test equipment designed and built to perform wear test on conveyor chains.

Our torque machine can be customized to perform a various range of torsion test.

Torque machine

Back-to-back gear tester (FZG)

Wear and damage testing of finished gears under controlled load, speed and lubrication conditions

Wear and damage testing of finished gears

Large scale flat on flat tribometers

Estimating lifetimes of engineering polymers and friction materials by means of applying heavy loads and low sliding velocities on large scale samples.

Large scale flat on flat tribometers

Universal mechanical tester - tribology

Our universal mechanical tester provides tribology testing for friction, wear, coatings, and lubrication in macro, micro, and nano regimes.

Tribology testing

Modular test floor 4000 kN

Laboratory Soete is equipped with a modular test floor of 15 m by 60 m

modular test floor of 15 m by 60 m