Conversion of an Instron to mechanical testing of single fibres

The object was to acquire the capability of performing tensile fracture and fatigue tests on single wood fibres. A benchtop model Instron was availabl e with sufficient sensitivity to conduct these types of measurements. Howev er, the grips were not rigidly aligned with each other and the resultant la teral movement generally broke the fibres before the test commenced. An att achment to the Instron was constructed to overcome the problem. In this pap er, the design criteria for the Instron fitting are discussed, details of t he design are given and some preliminary results showing the application of the new system are presented.