April 16, 2007American Stainless Tubing, Inc. (ASTI) submitted two lots of stainless steel tubing for load/deflection testing. The first lot samples were 53 inches long and the second lot samples were 57 inches long. All of the tubing tested was 1.250” OD x .062” wall thickness. Five of the samples are Type 304L and six of the samples are Type 201HP Stainless Steel to ASTM-554. All of the tubes were polished to a 180 grit finish. All material was manufactured by the same mill.
Load TestTest No. 1 Mid-Point Load Test
The 53 inch long tubes were subjected to a center point load of 330 lbs. These tests were performed in an Instron Testing Machine, Model 4206 (Electro Mechanical System). The base of the machine was extended using an I-beam. Figure 1-1 shows the machine set-up prior to testing. The load was applied through a plastic block with a special ID configuration to prevent surface indentation. The ends of each tube were firmly clamped in place on the I-beam. Figure 1-2 shows the test set-up prior to applying the load. Each tube was held under load for a period of 10 minutes and the permanent deflection was measured after load removal. Figure 1-3shows the tube under load. The deflection-under-load readings were directly recorded by the computer. The results of this test are summarized in Table 1.
Test No. 2 Uniform Load Test
The 57 inch long tubes were subjected to a distributed load test of 60 lbs. every six inches, beginning at 4-1/2 inches from one end for a total of nine locations. Figure 2-1 shows the set-up prior to testing. Each tube was held under a total load of 540 lbs for a period of 10 minute. The initial deflection was recorded using a dial indicator after the 10 minute period. Figure 2-2 shows the tube during the load test. The permanent deflection was recorded using a dial indicator after the load was removed. Figure 2-3shows the permanent deflection of the tube.The load test was conducted at the University of Pennsylvania by Dr. Alex Radin. Dr. Radin is the director of the Mechanical Testing Center.