Durability and life prediction of materials

Expert knowledge and a track record

NPL offers measurement and consultancy services to support the quality assurance and lifetime management of materials, via our extensive accelerated test instrumentation and expertise. 

We offer the most accurate and authoritative measurements in the UK. Our world experts in different disciplines are available to help clarify requirements, interpret and analyse results, and solve problems for customers. 

NPL helps increase confidence in the evaluation and prediction of the performance of new and traditional materials through the full life cycle and in harsh environments. We provide an insight into the ageing process to increase lifetime and durability of materials, surfaces and coatings. 

Measurements include: 

• Testing material degradation in harsh environments (including chemical, moisture, environmental exposure and high temperature), enabling lifetime assessment and suggested strategies for structural health monitoring. 
• Bespoke mechanical tests including strength, fatigue, fracture toughness, creep and ductile brittle transition (against varying thermal, humidity and loading rate conditions).  
• Failure analysis including a comprehensive and complementary suite of capabilities, enabling accelerated identification of root cause for failures in materials, products or structures. 
• Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in reactive atmospheres 
• Tribological testing suite covering abrasion, scratch, sliding wear and erosion (gas, particle and water droplets), enabling: 
  • Ambient and high pressure steam exposure at high temperatures 
  • Accelerated testing of coatings and thermal barrier coatings 
  • Low and high frequency wear testing in steam 

Operating as the UK's National Measurement Institute, we offer trusted and impartial expertise plus a commitment to providing the right measurement solution.

Don’t see what you are looking for? Our diverse skill set enables us to provide bespoke solutions. Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

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Find out more about NPL’s Advanced engineering materials