Component Testing

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Component testing

Testing of plastic components

Ensuring high quality is a fundamental requirement in the development and production process of plastic components. Special test procedures are used to test the functionality, serviceability, operational safety and lifetime of plastic components.

As a result of the component test, the aim is to successfully avoid failure. If a component failure nevertheless occurs, there is a mismatch between the property profile of the material (physical, mechanical, thermal and chemical properties) and the requirement profile of the component.

Classification of plastic components

Plastic components can be categorised into the following three groups, taking material aspects into account:

Classic plastics components

Moulded plastic parts (including semi-finished products) produced by shaping processes such as injection moulding, compression moulding, transfer moulding, extrusion or thermoforming; the starting products for this are standardised moulding compounds, predominantly thermoplastics

Plastic components made from composite materials

Fibre-reinforced plastics (GF, CF), manufactured using thermosetting resins, which are processed by laminating, pressing (SMC, prepreg) or resin injection technology, among other methods, and used to create load-bearing components and structures

Plastic components made from material composites

Plastic-metal composites known as hybrid structures, which are produced by injection moulding, extrusion (e.g. multi-layer composite pipes) or foaming processes (e.g. plastic wall pipes, sandwich elements)

For simple plastic components without special quality requirements, assessment according to general quality characteristics such as external appearance is often sufficient; for components with higher requirements, this is often not enough. In these cases, for example, dimensional tests, strength tests of various types and a wide range of functional tests may be necessary, for which more complex testing technologies such as hybrid methods of plastics diagnostics with high measurable resolution and accuracy (see measuring accuracy and measuring uncertainty) are also required.

Application and utilisation limits

The main factors that determine the properties of a plastic product lie not only in the moulding compound properties themselves, but also in the design of the finished part and mould and the processing conditions. Material application and utilisation limits for plastic components are derived from the special features of the macromolecular structure of the individual plastics and the physical and chemical changes during their service life.

The aim of a component test is to record the functionality and suitability for use as comprehensively as possible in order to ensure the suitability of the product for the intended use, taking into account the required lifetime on the basis of objectively measurable properties and subjective evaluation characteristics. The tests can be carried out using a wide variety of methods under defined stresses that are simulated as closely as possible to real-life conditions and, if necessary, intensified and accelerated over time (see: Stepped isothermal method, Macro indentation test) and stepped isothermal method, tensile stress) and defined pre-treatments and environmental influences in short-term or long-term tests (see: tensile test and tensile creep test).

Testing of plastic components

Classification of plastic components

Application and utilisation limits

See also