Solar Atmospheres of Western PA, Hermitage, has brought tensile testing in-house, adding the test to its other in-house mechanical tests rather than outsourcing. Currently, many aerospace specifications demand at least one tensile test for each heat lot of material and/or for every furnace load of components being heat treated. Tensile testing is not only more prevalent today, but also is often the mechanical test of choice that supersedes all others for the acceptance of properties.
Solar Atmospheres has traditionally outsourced all tensile testing by utilizing excellent locally accredited independent laboratories. Due to shipping and transporting test specimens to these laboratories, a delay of 24 to 48 hours before the lab even received the specimens was normal.
However, because many customers now need tensile results faster, Solar purchased a new Tinius Olsen 300SL Universal testing machine and installed it in a temperature-controlled environment. In addition, in order to custom-machine test specimens, Solar purchased a new Haas Model TL-1 CNC lathe. Both units are physically located in a brand new 10,000 square foot facility adjacent to its 75,000 square foot state-of-the-art vacuum heat treating production facility.
The company also has added room-temperature tensile testing to the scope of its Nadcap accreditation. The Nadcap audit went extremely well and final approval was completed on December 20, 2017. As President Bob Hill, President elaborated, “We at Solar listen to our customers very carefully. Our customer feedback was very definitive: they wanted faster turnaround on their heat-treated components. By bringing this new mechanical test in-house, we will be able to do just that.”
