A laboratory tensile testing device has been developed, which allows quick and inexpensive measurements of tensile properties of polymeric materials in a uni-axial mode. The device is mostly for instructive purposes and is not necessarily precise enough to collect research mechanical property data. But it is excellent to expose students, in a hands-on fashion, to measuring properties and understanding terms, such as , modulus or stiffness, tensile strength, strain, stress/strain plots, Poisson's ratio, yield, etc. These properties are fairly common to material scientists, mechanical engineers, physicists, polymer chemists, but generally not traditional chemists(non-polymer). As written, this experiment and the associated device can be used extensively as an active laboratory experience to teach stress/strain fundamentals.
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