Materials Testing Machine
Appendix A: Calibration
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012-13762D
Appendix A: Calibration
General Information: Pre-Calibration
Lab 02: Compliance Calibration Tutorial
REMINDER: A PASCO Capstone workbook file about compliance calibration is available to download from the PASCO web
site. Go to www.pasco.com and enter “Materials Testing System” in the Search window. In the web page that opens, select
Materials Testing System
. Click “
Sample Labs
” and then download the ZIP file for Lab 02.
Information covered in the “Lab 02 Compliance Calibration Tutorial” includes:
•
How a compliance calibration works.
•
How to create, save, and delete calibrations.
•
Hints and practice in making an accurate calibration.
Optional: Change Sign
NOTE: The default for the Materials Testing Machine in the software is
a negative value for force and position as ‘negative’ when a tension
force is applied. Although it is possible to use the Materials Testing
Machine with negative values for force and position, it is easier to
change the sign convention to be positive while you use the “Calibra-
tion Wizard” for the calibration procedure.
•
To change the sign for the force and position data, click the “Hard-
ware Setup” icon in the Tools palette.
•
In the Hardware Setup window, click the “Properties” icon (shaped
like a gear wheel) to open the “Properties” window for the Materi-
als Testing Machine.
•
In the “Properties” window, note that the default for the
“Change Sign” is an un-checked box. This means there is a
positive value for both position and force when the Load Bar is
moving down, as in a
compression
.
•
If you want positive values for both position and force when
the Load Bar is moving up, as in
tension
, click the check box
for “Change Sign”.
•
Click
OK
to close the “Properties” window.
•
Click the “Hardware Setup” icon to close the “Hardware
Setup” window.
Prepare to use the software to calibrate the Material Testing
Machine.
Materials Testing Machine
icon
Properties
icon