Destructive Material Testing

When engineers design equipment and structures, they specify the required physical properties of the construction materials. Destructive testing of materials is part of a material verification process to check that the properties meet the specifications of the engineer’s design, as well as compliance with regulatory body standards. Materials testing may be carried out when materials are initially manufactured, for example during a pipe mill or mill inspection. Destructive testing and material verification can also be included in structural welding tests to examine the properties of welds following fabrication. Welds must be equal to, or better than, the material properties of the pieces they join, so destructive testing can be carried out on representative weld samples, known as specimens or coupons, to confirm the properties of the weld.

Destructive testing is undertaken in order to understand a specimen’s performance or material behaviour, with procedures carried out until the test specimen’s failure. We can provide destructive testing procedures that follow specific standards or can be tailored to reproduce set service conditions.