Testing Services

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Guide to Material Testing Services

How to choose a material testing lab to meet your business needs
By Patricia Flinsch-Rodriguez

If you manufacture any type of industrial equipment, then you will require the services of material testing laboratories. It doesn't matter if you produce steel tube fittings, concrete walls or dinnerware. At some point you will need lab testing to ensure your products meet appropriate standards.

Testing services can be used for a variety of different industries. Industrial testing services specialize in different things so you'll have to make sure that the lab you choose is an expert in your manufacturing area. For example, metallurgical testing labs can do the following:

1. Test the hardness, density and porosity of your materials.

2. Determine alloy identification and verification of materials during material testing services.

3. Facilitate failure analysis investigations to determine the cause of production failures.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Select a material testing lab that subscribes to ISO 9001 principles Whether you need concrete testing services or metal testing labs, you want to employ one that is ISO 9001 certified. ISO technical standards exist to help keep consumers safe. Choosing a testing lab that subscribes to these standards will give you a peace of mind that you have chosen your lab wisely.

I recommend:  Check out ISO.org for more information on ISO 9001 standards. ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world. You can look up standards that they have developed and in addition you can search for industrial testing laboratories by area of specialization and geographic location.

Consider hiring a material testing lab for failure analysis If you have a product that breaks down and your engineers cannot figure out why then failure analysis can help. Failure analysis can determine if your product failed due to component failure and manufacturing issues or if there were corrosion or structural problems that occurred afterwards.

I recommend:  Many testing labs provide failure analysis services, but some specialize in this testing. Labs such as SEAL Laboratories, Applied Technical Services (ATS) and Metallurgical Consultants specialize in failure analysis.

Select industrial testing labs that specialize in the services you need Most material testing laboratories can do all types of testing, so you can't go wrong if you select a testing lab from the ATSM link above. However, if you require services for dynamic fatigue testing then you should select a lab that makes fatigue testing its primary focus.

I recommend:  For dynamic fatigue testing, consult OCM Test Laboratories or ADMET. If you require corrosion testing, consider using metal testing labs like Metallurgical Engineering Services or Corrosion Testing Labs.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Some lab testing can be done on site, so ask the material testing lab if they can offer this service to you even if you don't find it in print on their website or publications.