DEVELOPMENT TEST CENTRE
A premium testing and analysis facility for acoustic materials.
A fully equipped state of the art laboratory to deliver a fast bespoke service.
Primarily for underwater applications supported with structural testing.
Pulse Tube Testing
A world leading Pulse Tube, providing a wide range of capability and fidelity. This bespoke piece of equipment is 7.6 m long and precisely machined to provide a smooth surface throughout, thus minimising any interference to the acoustic signal. Optimal performance for its normal plane testing is ensured by the inclusion of the smallest practicable sensor ports.
A representative range of pressure and temperature conditions can be established in order to test candidate materials in a simulated operational environment.
Insertion Loss Tank
For any structure requiring high sonar performance, materials need to be acoustically transparent at the operational frequencies of the sonars they protect. This requires a low insertion loss, validated through measurements at a variety of frequencies and angles of incidence. Sample panels can be mounted in the Insertion Loss Tank to allow measurement of these properties as part of the testing and validation of real product, and this forms part of a comprehensive set of tests at our Development Test Centre.
Wave Speed Tank
The fundamental characteristics of any candidate acoustic material are required for the prediction of impedance performance and the Wave Speed Test Tank provides the ability to measure this. Ultrasonic measurements can be used to determine the sound speed for different wave propagation types against angle for many different material types and compositions.
Other acoustically relevant material properties such as elastic moduli can also be derived. An adapter rig also allows determination of the sample density.
Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis
DMTA equipment provides dynamic elastic moduli measurement against temperature and frequency. This data provides direct input parameters for the calculation of viscoelastic properties of the samples. It can also be used to derive detailed data on the rheological behaviour of the material.
Prediction models can then use this data to optimise the performance of the system across the environmental parameters and frequency range.
Pressure Cycle Testing
Where a composite or other structure has been manufactured for use in underwater applications, there is often a requirement for demonstrating its ability to operate at depth without failure (e.g. a submarine radome). Assemblies may also need to repeatedly undergo transitions from depth to the surface. The Pressure Cycle Testing Rig simulates the pressure cycling that materials and structures undergo and is thus a crucial part of pre-operational testing against design specifications.
Material Structural Testing
As well as the many acoustic tests needed during product or material development, there is also the requirement to validate the materials and assemblies for structural integrity over a wide range of operating and environmental conditions.
Characterisation of in-plane and through thickness mechanical properties and compression characteristics at depth is typically required to support design analysis and material qualification and Tods provide this testing capability.