Alpine’s patent pending In-Situ testing enables physical property tests (CSR, tensile, compression, shear, etc) to be performed while the material is exposed to high-pressure, high-temperature, and chemical environments. This method eliminates the cooling and handling steps of traditional testing, delivering data that accurately reflects in-service conditions for elastomers, thermoplastics, composites, coatings, and metals. The In-Situ modules allow high strain testing and the modules can be decoupled from the test machine while aging. Alpine is the only company in the world that offers this combination of In-Situ testing capability
Where Traditional Immersion Testing Falls Short
Typical immersion testing involves aging a material in a service environment and then removing it from that environment to clean, dry, and cool before testing at ambient conditions. This method is the industry standard, but it can introduce discrepancies:
- Cooling back to room temperature (relative to its glassy transition temperature) can mask real changes to properties
- The high pressures experienced in service are no longer present.
- Changes created when materials are saturated with reactive gases like hydrogen or ammonia can alter material behavior, but these effects may not be present after removal from a vessel and degassing.
These are just a few factors can lead to results that do not fully represent in-service conditions, impacting qualification decisions and material evaluations
What In-Situ Delivers
In-Situ testing removes these uncertainties by performing the mechanical tests in the aging environment itself. This means materials are tested at service pressures and temperatures, while still in the presence of test fluids or gases, capturing their true performance envelope.
Test types of interest include tensile, compression, shear, compression stress relaxation (CSR), flex, bond, and other Instron-based tests.
Alpine’s In-Situ testing is performed in a constant volume test module with hydrogen, ISO 23936 test fluids, CO₂, brines, hydrocarbons, water, ammonia, and other media, at pressures up to 10,000 psi and temperatures up to 200°C. Alpine will be expanding media, temperature, and pressure capabilities, so check with us to learn about the latest capabilities.
Process and Capabilities
- Each In-Situ module typically holds four samples, enabling multiple aging tests simultaneously and efficiently without tying up Instron machine time.
- Modules transition directly from aging conditions to mechanical testing, maximizing data collection while minimizing idle time and cost.
- Friction from the dynamic seals used in the module while under pressure is measured and accounted for, with noise removed during post-processing to deliver clean, actionable data.
- Data generated during In-Situ testing accurately represents material response under exposure, making it valuable for finite element analysis and advanced material modeling.