Westmoreland Mechanical Testing & Research (WMT&R) opened its new Composites Center of Excellence in Youngstown, Pa. The state-of-the-art, Nadcap-certified facility enhances WMT&R’s existing composites testing services. The fully staffed facility is equipped with an array of hydraulic, electro-mechanical, drop tower/pendulum impact test frames. It contains a full chemistry lab for conducting tests such as density and fiber content tests using resin burn-off and acid digestion methods. The lab’s fume hood enables etching capabilities for pre-adhesive specimen preparation work.

The Composites Center also features a dedicated machine shop staffed by experienced machinists. This enables WMT&R to accommodate unique customer testing requirements, including unusual dimensions and geometries. To strengthen the depth and quality of its testing results, WMT&R added thermal analysis instruments including dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), thermomechanical analysis (TMA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric (TGA) machines.