ADMET’s Core Values
Why do customers come to ADMET to solve their problems and improve their material testing performance? Customers like NASA, GE, Bridgestone, Exova, Sandia National Labs, John Deere, Dupont, Harvard Medical School, MIT, Incline Therapeutics, Dolco, Boston Scientific, Otterbox, and other substantial government agencies have all turned to ADMET for material testing solutions.
Every ADMET system is built to be predictably easy to use.
The Riddell story: Riddell, a subsidiary of Easton-Bell Sports, is known primarily for its quality football helmets used by the NFL, college and high school teams. The company developed the first plastic suspension helmet in 1939 and has continually improved on the design ever since.
Riddell tests its materials and components rigorously before they are certified to be used in the company’s products. Some of the challenges that Riddell faces include measuring the tensile strength of materials and conducting compression and cyclic tests on finished components that go into football, baseball and lacrosse helmets. These tests must be conducted to key standards set out by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE).
Riddell chose ADMET’s eXpert 2611 Materials Testing System with MTEST Quattro software to solve these challenges. The client, Riddell’s Director of Quality Jim Tansey, made the decision to buy the eXpert 2611 based on its ease of use, size and price.
Because Riddell’s old system was based on analog technology, the improvement with the new ADMET solution was dramatic. Now, the new digital system collects, stores and analyzes test data and enables Riddell to easily compare results to specifications and past tests. In addition, because of ADMET’s MTESTWindows package, Riddell can now view multiple test results in the same report, adding a new dimension to their test analysis. As Riddell’s Director of Quality Jim Tansey explained, “We instantly see the comparison — Here’s the new product — Here’s what we’ve specified — We can show somebody the graph without talking numbers. A picture’s worth a thousand words.”
Diagnosis is a key word at ADMET. Our sales professionals and engineers are trained to diagnose requirements, not guess!
The Nerites story: Nerites Corporation was founded in 2004 to develop novel adhesives and coatings for a wide range of medical, industrial, and consumer applications. Its innovative approach creates synthetic adhesives and coatings that mimic the adhesive proteins of the common blue mussel (Mytilus edulis). The majority of Nerites’ work focuses on structural adhesives and coatings for biomedical applications.
Nerites’ researches believe they can overcome the biomedical concerns associated with animal-derived and human-derived tissue adhesives and sealants by utilizing synthetic molecules. While these molecules answer concerns related to toxicology and viral transmission, they must still be tested for their mechanical properties. One of Nerties’ senior scientists, Jeffrey Dalsin, Ph.D., contacted ADMET seeking a solution.
ADMET engineers recommended their eXpert 5602 tabeltop testing machine equipped with an eP2 Digital Controller. From the beginning, ADMET worked with Dr. Dalsin to arrive at a solution tailored to his needs. He says, “I contacted ADMET and explained our needs and the force ranges in which we would be working and the fact that we wanted to have a certain amount of computerized control. I also explained that we wanted to test underwater. The in-house ADMET machine makes it easier to test different formulations quickly.” Dr. Dalsin explains, “The pressure generated in the brain and spinal cord is much different than the pressure generated in, say, a blood vessel, especially the arterial system. So, we’re developing different formulations — they may be closely related — for applications where different forces are involved.”
It’s not about being cheap! It’s about offering the best value in terms of functionality and performance in the industry.
The UMass Medical School story: UMass Medical School has been recognized by national and international medical communities as an outstanding institution for research. Within the university, the Department of Orthopedics and Physical Rehabilitation and the Department of Rheumatology form the Musculoskeletal Center of Excellence. This center researches the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders.
One specific project needed a testing machine capable of determining the load sharing between bones and implants during both tension and compression.
The Project Team chose an ADMET eXpert 2611 Universal Testing Machine to meet the project’s challenges. In the words of the client, “We were delighted with the ADMET relationship from a cost basis, ease-of-use, and ongoing support. It does what we need it to do.”
Our focus is not on Purchase Orders but on improving our customer’s performance.
The BarronCast story: BarronCast Inc. (BCI), headquartered in Oxford, Michigan, is a manufacturer of engineered metal products. The company has been owned by the Barron family since 1923. BCI supplies cast, machined, assembled, and painted components to the defense, automotive, glass, material handling, medical, printing press, combustion turbine, pump, valve, and other commercial markets. Until recently, BCI had most of its materials and product testing outsourced to local testing labs.
The company wanted to bring its material testing in-house to improve quality control and reduce testing time. By diagnosing the key success criteria of the customer ,ADMET engineers were able to offer a brand new ADMET machine, an eXpress servohydraulic dual-column test frame equipped with the MTESTQuattro materials testing system. This machine would be utilized in both R&D and production testing.
One key benefit of ADMET’s system was its ability to capture testing data and produce sophisticated reports. In the case of BCI, tests results are printed and filed as a backup for the certification that is sent to customers. A separate report is generated for customers that require raw data. Now that BCI conducts its own testing, the company has plans to consolidate the data from multiple tests into spreadsheets in order to do statistical analyses of tensile strength results on alloys over time. Since the machine uses standard fixture pin mounts, virtually any fixture can be mounted. As the client noted: “We see a lot of possibilities.” BCI has already run some push-out tests on pressed fittings and brushings that are installed in castings. Other useful applications are planned for the future.
Our objective is to deliver consistent accuracy enabling customers to conduct comprehensive, repeatable tests to ASTM or ISO standards.
The Flood Testing Labs story: Flood Testing Labs, Inc. (FTL) is one of North America’s preeminent concrete, asphalt, soils, steel, and weld test laboratories. Based in Chicago, FTL services building and roadway construction with both onsite technical services and certified laboratory testing to provide technical certifications for materials. Its largest service is concrete cylinder compression testing. For this, FTL depends on two testing machines. One of these, a Tinius Olsen 400,000 lb. Universal Testing Machine, was beginning to show the wear and tear associated with long term use in a corrosive atmosphere. The wiring and electrical components were becoming troublesome to maintain. Walt Flood, engineer-in-charge at FTL, knew it was time for an upgrade. He turned to his calibrator, Cal-Rite Corporation, who suggested he consider ADMET to conduct a comprehensive retrofit of the Tinius Olsen machine with new ADMET controllers and system enhancements.
The solution needed to improve efficiency and test accuracy. The results have been very positive for FTL. The electronics in their testing machines are new and reliable. Test times have been reduced from 45 minutes to 13 minutes. All of the Young’s Modulus calculations are completed during the test. ADMET’s digital controller allows FTL to capture data, import into a spreadsheet, and create backups. The customer noted that the retrofitted machine was recognized by one of his technicians as the most accurate machine he’d ever seen.