In situ environmentally-isolated wear tester

DWPI Title: System for facilitating in-situ wear testing of sample material in controlled environment, has enclosure comprising sealing surface formed between portion of plate surface and edge of side wall, and valve to release fluids within chamber
Abstract: The present invention relates to an in situ testing system, which includes a wear tester and an enclosure. The wear tester is configured to apply a normal load, by way of a tip, to a surface of the test sample. Use of an enclosure allows such wear testing to be conducted in a controlled environment.
Use: System for facilitating in-situ wear testing of a sample material in a controlled environment.
Advantage: The system provides tri-biological properties of a material to provide insightful design information, so that accurate properties can be employed to predict aging effects upon certain materials when the system allows in-situ testing of materials in a controlled manner.
Novelty: The system (300) has a wear tester comprising a sample mount configured to hold a sample, a first positioner to position the sample mount, a tip to contact a surface of the sample, and a load cell to apply normal load to the tip and measure friction arising from contact between the tip and the surface of the sample. An enclosure houses the wear tester, and comprises a base plate, a set of side walls and a top wall to provide an internal chamber, a sealing surface (321) formed between a portion of the surface of the base plate and an edge of each of the set of side walls, a vacuum exchange port (310), and an overpressure valve to release fluids within the internal chamber of the enclosure, where the fluids are selected from a group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and inert gas.
Filed: 7/25/2017
Application Number: US15659467A
Tech ID: SD 13699.1
This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention.
Data from Derwent World Patents Index, provided by Clarivate
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