Tensile Force Testing

A tensile test, also known as a tension test, is one of the most fundamental and common types of mechanical testing. Tensile strength test means application of tensile (pulling) force to a material and measures the specimen’s response to the stress. It involves the application of uniaxial force to measure the performance of a test specimen, up to the point of it yielding or breaking, whether sharply or gradually.

In simple terms, it is pulling a specimen apart in a straight line and recording the changes that occur. By doing this, tensile tests help to determine the strength a material is and how much it can elongate. Tensile tests are typically conducted with the helps of force testing or universal testing machines and these are fully standardized.

Tensile test procedures are standardized testing methods in which certain parameters are measured. They are destructive methods, because the specimens to be tested are often loaded beyond the yield strength. The testing on materials is performed by tensile testing machines and universal testing machines. The devices display one-dimensional movements in a stress-strain curve and a force-displacement curve. The determined parameters provide information on the properties and the tensile behaviour of the tested materials.