ServicesThe Engineered Materials team at NPL use a wide range of techniques to understand product performance and the relationship between a material's properties and structure.
Corrosion
- NPL has extensive facilities and the expertise to undertake environment assisted cracking and corrosion / electrochemical testing at ambient and elevated temperatures.
- Corrosion control has a positive effect on business and should be audited regularly. Improved communication in the supply chain and the use of experts to prevent corrosion would significantly reduce the impact on all parties. Loss of control can have severe consequences.
- The importance of corrosion control - it is of paramount importance that the Oil and Gas industry provides a constant supply of its products to users whilst managing the impact on the environment and complying with stringent safety targets.
Powder Route Materials
- Thermal expansion measurements can be made within the temperature range -140 °C to 1400 °C.
- Details of the observation facilities we currently include.
- Mechanical testing facilities for ceramics and hardmetals.
Surface Engineering
NPL is well placed to deliver measurement services in the engineered surfaces area.
Mechanical Measurement
- Testing for fatigue, creep, modulus and tension.
- NPL's research in structural testing focuses in the experimental validation of test methods developed in research programmes.
- Nanomechanical testing and Scanning Indentation Mechanical Microprobe (SIMM).
- Strain measurement is an integral part of materials characterisation and a wide variety of techniques are available ranging from conventional strain gauges and extensometry to non-contact full field 3D techniques.
- Wear and friction facilities at NPL include sliding, abrasion, and erosion wear.
Metals + Alloys
High temperature measurement facilities at NPL
Microstructural Characterisation
Details of the observation facilities we currently include.
Nanomaterials
- Class 10 and 1,000 cleanroom facilities.
- NPL is one of the leading laboratories in the development of measurement techniques for nano-scale instrumented indentation.
- Scanning probe metrology (SPM) is a powerful technique in nanomaterials. Its wide range of operating modes provides invaluable, and complementary, methods of characterisation of nano-structured materials.
Residual Stress
One of the most widely used techniques for measuring residual stress.