Innovations in testing material applied to elastomer crack propagation and light composite vibrational fatigue

Means of experimentation are developed, first for a specific application, and are then implemented on products such as dynamic testing machines and fatigue tests rigs. Two examples illustrate this way of introducing innovative development. First, in order to characterize elastomers' resistance to tearing, a new methodology was defined and tested on a fatigue test machine for crack propagation analysis. This functionality was then implemented on standard products. Second, a fatigue testing machine was modified in order to characterize the vibration fatigue of a light composite structure at high temperature without any added mass or rigidity. The fatigue test was achieved by exciting a test beam at natural frequency with constant maximal strain. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.