MTS Advantage Pneumatic Grips User Manual

be certain.

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips Product Information

100-013-660 L

Trademark information MTS is a registered trademark of MTS Systems Corporation within the United

States. These trademarks may be protected in other countries.

Molykote is a registered trademark of Carleton-Stuart Corporation. Surfalloy is a trademark of Alloying Surfaces Incorporated. Scotch-Brite is a trademark of 3M. All other trademarks or service marks are property of their respective owners.

Publication information

Manual Part Number Publication Date

100-013-660 A October 2000

100-013-660 B December 2000

100-013-660 C January 2001

100-013-660 D June 2001

100-013-660 E June 2001

100-013-660 F September 2001

100-013-660 G October 2004

100-013-660 H November 2004

100-013-660 J February 2005

100-013-660 K November 2009

100-013-660 L August 2012

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips

Contents

Technical Support 5

How to Get Technical Support 5

Before You Contact MTS 6

If You Contact MTS by Phone 7

Problem Submittal Form in MTS Manuals 8

Preface 11

Before You Begin 11

Conventions 12

Documentation Conventions 12

Introduction 15

Functional Description 17

Specifications 20

Safety Information 21

General Safety Practices: Grips and Fixtures 21

Hazard Placard Placement 27

Power Loss Consideration 27

Installation 29

Installation Using the Mounting Pin 30

Installation Without Using the Mounting Pin 32

Connecting the Air Supply 35

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips Contents

Operation 39

Selecting Face Surfaces 40

Grip Faces for the 10 N Grips 41

Grip Faces for the 200 N and 2000 N Grips 42

Grip Faces for the 10,000 N Grips 45

Changing Face Surfaces 47

Changing Wedges 48

Installing a Specimen 50

Adjusting the Air Supply Pressure 53

Maintenance 55

Contents

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips

Technical Support

How to Get Technical Support

Start with your

manuals

Technical support

methods

The manuals supplied by MTS provide most of the information you need to use and maintain your equipment. If your equipment includes software, look for online help and README files that contain additional product information.

If you cannot find answers to your technical questions from these sources, you can use the Internet, e-mail, telephone, or fax to contact MTS for assistance.

MTS provides a full range of support services after your system is installed. If you have any questions about a system or product, contact Technical Support in one of the following ways.

www.mts.com The web site provides access to our technical support staff by means of an

onlineform:

www.mts.com > Contact MTS > Service & Technical Support button

E-mail tech.support@mts.com

Telephone MTS Call Center 800-328-2255

Weekdays 7:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Central Time

Fax 952-937-4515

Please include “Technical Support” in the subject line.

Outside the U.S. For technical support outside the United States, contact your local sales and

service office. For a list of worldwide sales and service locations and contact information, use the Global MTS link at the MTS web site:

www.mts.com > Global MTS > (choose your region in the right-hand column) > (choose the location closest to you)

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips Technical Support

Before You Contact MTS

MTS can help you more efficiently if you have the following information available when you contact us for support.

Know your site

number and system

number

Know information from

prior technical

The site number contains your company number and identifies your equipment type (such as material testing or simulation). The number is typically written on a label on your equipment before the system leaves MTS. If you do not know your MTS site number, contact your sales engineer.

Example site number: 571167

When you have more than one MTS system, the system job number identifies your system. You can find your job number in your order paperwork.

Example system number: US1.42460

If you have contacted MTS about this problem before, we can recall your file based on the:

assistance

• MTS notification number

• Name of the person who helped you

Identify the problem Describe the problem and know the answers to the following questions:

• How long and how often has the problem occurred?

• Can you reproduce the problem?

• Were any hardware or software changes made to the system before the

problem started?

Technical Support

• What are the equipment model numbers?

• What is the controller model (if applicable)?

• What is the system configuration?

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips

Know relevant

computer information

For a computer problem, have the following information available:

• Manufacturer’s name and model number

• Operating software type and service patch information

• Amount of system memory

• Amount of free space on the hard drive where the application resides

• Current status of hard-drive fragmentation

• Connection status to a corporate network

Know relevant

For software application problems, have the following information available:

software information

• The software application’s name, version number, build number, and (if

available) software patch number. This information can typically be found in the About selection in the Help menu.

• The names of other applications on your computer, such as:

– Anti-virus software

– Screen savers

– Keyboard enhancers

– Print spoolers

– Messaging applications

If You Contact MTS by Phone

A Call Center agent registers your call before connecting you with a technical support specialist. The agent asks you for your:

• Site number

• Name

• Company name

• Company address

• Phone number where you can be reached

If your issue has a notification number, please provide that number. A new issue will be assigned a unique notification number.

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips Technical Support

Identify system type To enable the Call Center agent to connect you with the most qualified technical

support specialist available, identify your system as one of the following types:

• Electromechanical material test system

• Hydromechanical material test system

• Vehicle test system

• Vehicle component test system

• Aero test system

Be prepared to

Prepare to perform troubleshooting while on the phone:

troubleshoot

• Call from a telephone close to the system so that you can implement

suggestions made over the phone.

• Have the original operating and application software media available.

• If you are not familiar with all aspects of the equipment operation, have an

experienced user nearby to assist you.

Write down relevant

In case Technical Support must call you:

information

• Verify the notification number.

• Record the name of the person who helped you.

• Write down any specific instructions.

After you call MTS logs and tracks all calls to ensure that you receive assistance for your

problem or request. If you have questions about the status of your problem or have additional information to report, please contact Technical Support again and provide your original notification number.

Problem Submittal Form in MTS Manuals

Use the Problem Submittal Form to communicate problems with your software, hardware, manuals, or service that are not resolved to your satisfaction through the technical support process. The form includes check boxes that allow you to indicate the urgency of your problem and your expectation of an acceptable response time. We guarantee a timely response—your feedback is important to us.

Technical Support

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips

Access the Problem Submittal Form:

• In the back of many MTS manuals (postage paid form to be mailed to MTS)

• www.mts.com > Contact Us > Problem Submittal Form button (electronic

form to be e-mailed to MTS)

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips Technical Support

Technical Support

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips

Preface

Before You Begin

Safety first! Before you use your MTS product or system, read and understand the Safety

manual and any other safety information provided with your system. Improper installation, operation, or maintenance can result in hazardous conditions that can cause severe personal injury or death, or damage to your equipment and specimen. Again, read and understand the safety information provided with your system before you continue. It is very important that you remain aware of hazards that apply to your system.

Other MTS manuals In addition to this manual, you may receive additional manuals in paper or

electronic form.

You may also receive an MTS System Documentation CD. It contains an electronic copy of the manuals that pertain to your test system, such as:

• Hydraulic and mechanical component manuals

• Assembly drawings

• Parts lists

• Operation manual

• Preventive maintenance manual

Controller and application software manuals are typically included on the software CD distribution disc(s).

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips Preface

Conventions

DANGER

WARNING

CAUTION

Conventions

Documentation Conventions

The following paragraphs describe some of the conventions that are used in your MTS manuals.

Hazard conventions Hazard notices may be embedded in this manual. These notices contain safety

information that is specific to the activity to be performed. Hazard notices immediately precede the step or procedure that may lead to an associated hazard. Read all hazard notices carefully and follow all directions and recommendations. Three different levels of hazard notices may appear in your manuals. Following are examples of all three levels.

Note For general safety information, see the safety information provided with

your system.

Danger notices indicate the presence of a hazard with a high level of risk which, if ignored, will result in death, severe personal injury, or substantial property damage.

Warning notices indicate the presence of a hazard with a medium level of risk which, if ignored, can result in death, severe personal injury, or substantial property damage.

Caution notices indicate the presence of a hazard with a low level of risk which, if ignored, could cause moderate or minor personal injury or equipment damage, or could endanger test integrity.

Notes Notes provide additional information about operating your system or highlight

easily overlooked items. For example:

Note Resources that are put back on the hardware lists show up at the end of

the list.

Special terms The first occurrence of special terms is shown in italics.

Preface

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips

Conventions

Illustrations Illustrations appear in this manual to clarify text. They are examples only and do

not necessarily represent your actual system configuration, test application, or software.

Electronic manual

conventions

This manual is available as an electronic document in the Portable Document File (PDF) format. It can be viewed on any computer that has Adobe Acrobat Reader installed.

Hypertext links The electronic document has many hypertext links displayed in a blue font. All

blue words in the body text, along with all contents entries and index page numbers, are hypertext links. When you click a hypertext link, the application jumps to the corresponding topic.

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips Preface

Conventions

Preface

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips

Introduction

10 N 200 N 2000 N 10,000 N

Contents Functional Description 17

The Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips hold a test specimen in a load unit for static tension testing. Most of the grips accommodate flat-surfaced specimens only, the 10,000 N high tensile grip can clamp flat and round specimens.

Specifications 20

Advantage Pneumatic Grip Family

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips Introduction

What you need to

know

This manual assumes that you know how to use your controller. See the appropriate manual for information about performing any controller-related step in this manual’s procedures. You are expected to know how to:

• Turn main power on and off (electromechanical systems) or turning

hydraulic pressure on and off (servohydraulic systems)

• Manually adjust the actuator or crosshead position

• Adjust the air supply pressure

• Use the air controller clamping controls (if available)

Introduction

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips

Functional Description

The Advantage Pneumatic Grips are designed for static tension testing. The pneumatic grips require an external air supply to provide filtered, dry air to the grips. Applying air to the grips cause them to clamp and removing the air causes them to release. There are a variety of ways to control the air to the grips. The grips can be installed in an electromechanical load frame or a servohydraulic load unit with the appropriate adapter kit.

Functional Description

Advantage 10 N

applications

Advantage

200 N/2000 N

applications

The 10 N (2 lbf) capacity pneumatic grips are designed for low tensile applications and testing thin specimens with low breaking strengths like the gold wire in electronics, tungsten wire, thermocouples, gels, and plastic films.

These grips feature dual acting, swivel faces that simultaneously move to the centerline of the grip and eliminate the bending strains on your specimen that can invalidate your test results. The ability to swivel lets these faces conform to any variations in your specimen’s geometry. The grip also has a self-aligning feature which allows the grips to maintain alignment while actuated.

The 200 N (40 lbf) and 2000 N (400 lbf) capacity pneumatic grips can be used to test a variety of thin films, sheets, and tapes.

The low and medium tensile models feature dual acting grip faces that simultaneously move to the centerline of the grip. This assures correct specimen alignment and removes the bending strains that can invalidate test results.

The design of these grips let you quickly and easily load and align your specimens. They also feature an area above the grip faces that is large enough for you to load the specimens while holding them with your fingers.

The weight of the 200 N grip is low enough to allow it to be used with 100 N force transducers.

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips Introduction

Functional Description

Advantage 10,000 N

applications

Grip faces

and wedges

The 10,000 N (2,200 lbf) capacity pneumatic grips are designed for performing tensile tests on a variety of materials including elastomers, plastics, rigid and semi-rigid films, and sheets. These grips can use a variety of flat, round, and veeshaped wedges. They feature dual acting grip faces that simultaneously move to the centerline of the grip.

The grips offer quick and easy specimen insertion. This model also features a constant clamping load to protect your specimens from damage due to slippage.

The weight of the 10,000 N grip is low enough to allow it to be used with 5,000 N force transducers.

The 10 N, 200 N, and 2000 N grips use grip faces to contact and hold a specimen. The 10,000 N grips use wedges to contact and hold a specimen. Several surfaces are available for the faces and grips (not all surfaces are available for all grips).

• Corrugated for gripping smooth and flexible specimens

• Serrated for gripping soft material

• Smooth rubber coating for extra gripping protection of thin delicate

specimens (in some cases the smooth faces will slip below the rated capacity of the grip)

• Matte rubber coating for more gripping power than smooth rubber coated

faces

Electromechanical

Servohydraulic

Introduction

systems

• Corrugated rubber coating for more gripping power than the matte rubber

coated faces

• Diamond tipped for more aggressive gripping needs

• Grab test for gripping fabric specimens

• Line contact for gripping rubber, latex, and cable sheath

Installing the grips in an electromechanical system involves mounting one grip to the base of the load frame and the other grip to the crosshead of the load frame. Standard mounting pins are used.

Installing the grips in a servohydraulic system involves attaching one grip onto the end of the load unit actuator rod and one grip to the load unit force transducer. The standard mounting pin can be removed so the grip can be bolted directly to the actuator or load transducer.

Advantage™ Pneumatic Grips

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