Back to newsA good product is measured not only under the sterile conditions of the laboratory, but in its ability to withstand real use, repetitions, shocks, and small failures that add up. Mechanical tests give you a reliable status picture even before mass production, surface weak points, and shorten the path to a more stable product.
Why Are Mechanical Tests Important?
Mechanical tests are at the heart of the development process, because they translate design assumptions into measurable performance. They help ensure that the materials, joints, and assemblies withstand the expected loads, and that service life matches the marketing promise and regulatory requirements.
Higher quality means fewer returns, fewer service failures, and fewer safety risks. Beyond that, failures in the field almost always cost more than investing in early testing. Failures may manifest as loss of customers, expensive maintenance, use of manufacturer warranty, damage to reputation, and a slowdown in the supply chain.
Engineering tests at the right time serve as the last barrier before product release, and also as a learning tool that influences the design, material selection, and manufacturing methods in the future.
Types of Mechanical Tests – An Overview
- Strength Tests — Strength Tests: testing the maximum load limits before failure. Measurements of tension, compression, bending, and shear to determine a safety factor for use. These tests are particularly suitable for parts such as frames, mounts, and joints that withstand peak loads.
- Durability Tests — Durability Tests: testing function over time under normal usage conditions. Mapping slow wear, loosening, or material fatigue under a sequence of moderate loads. These tests are required when long service life is a central requirement.
- Vibration Tests — Vibration Tests: testing motion profiles and environmental or operational vibrations, including mechanical shock. Intended to measure loosening of joints, cracks, and mechanical feedback between assemblies. These tests are common in transportation, industrial, and defense industries, sometimes in accordance with standards such as IEC 60068 or MIL-STD-810.
- Wear Tests — Wear Tests: testing degradation on surfaces expected to undergo continuous contact. Intended to examine wear rates, friction, coating quality, and lubrication. These tests are essential for hinges, gears, bearings, and sliding interfaces.
- Stress Tests — Stress Tests: for testing the product under extreme conditions, beyond expected loads, to map failure mechanisms and safety margins. Sometimes edge temperatures and thermal cycles are also examined.
- Fatigue Tests — Fatigue Tests: testing repeated loads over time to characterize S-N curves and points of cumulative failure. These tests are critical for thin parts, welds, and joints exposed to vibration or usage cycles.
Strength and Durability Tests – Differences and Importance
Strength tests help examine how much the product holds at the toughest load point. They define limits and safety factors, and help make final decisions regarding material selection, profiles, and thickness.
Durability tests, on the other hand, examine what happens over time under lower loads. They locate cumulative wear, loosening, and microscopic fractures that lead to late failure.
In practice, it is customary to combine the test types. A profile and material are chosen according to strength, and it is verified that under realistic routine use there is no cumulative damage that shortens the product’s life.
International Standards: ASTM, ISO, and More
The ASTM standard defines detailed test methods and instrumentation for performing mechanical measurements for a variety of materials and configurations, with the aim of providing a common language for comparing results between laboratories. The ISO standard is a broader set of standards that connects systemic requirements, quality processes, and test methods.
Sometimes there is overlap between ISO and ASTM, but there are differences in the measurement protocol, sample preparation, units, and reporting emphases.
Alongside the two main bodies, there are also IEC for electrical and electronic products, SAE for transportation and engines, and military standards such as MIL-STD. Compliance with standards creates consistency, accelerates regulatory approvals, and opens global markets. The right choice of standard ensures that you are testing exactly what customers and regulators will expect to see in the reports.
The Difference Between QA Tests and Reliability Tests
Quality assurance (QA) tests focus on verifying compliance with the specification during production. They are intended for checking dimensions, hardness, surface finish quality, etc. Reliability tests are conducted mainly during the preliminary development and verification stages, and their purpose is to assess performance over time and the probability of failures.
The two worlds complement each other: without QA, you will see variability between units. Without reliability tests, you will meet the specification on the day of production but fail in the field.
Application in Different Industries: Examples from the Field
Medical devices: work under ISO 13485 and risk management according to accepted principles, with an emphasis on patient safety. Fatigue of moving mechanisms, vibrations in transport, drops, sealing, and resistance to cleaning and disinfection are tested.
Industrial automation: resistance in dusty environments or exposure to oils, continuous vibration from nearby machines, and frequent thermal cycles. Long duty cycles, wear of drive assemblies, and the durability of connectors and packaging are examined.
Defense and military industry: extreme vibration and shock profiles, temperatures and salinity, sometimes according to MIL-STD standards. Emphases include survivability, maintainability, and maintaining machine performance under edge conditions.
How to Choose the Right Tests for Your Product?
First, define the usage environment according to loads, temperatures, cyclicality, transport, and service. Identify plausible failures according to risk analysis, choose relevant standards, and plan a test suite that balances risk coverage with cost and time.
It is recommended to start with quick screening tests that reveal major failure mechanisms, and then deepen with focused durability tests. By combining materials engineering, mechanics, and electronics you can be confident you are testing the assembly and not just a single component.
Practical Tips:
- Define the usage profile clearly, including edge events such as transport, installation, and service.
- Map historical failures from similar sectors so as not to miss known failure mechanisms.
- Choose one leading standard and cross-check with specific customer requirements to save duplication.
- Combine non-destructive tests alongside destructive tests to maintain development pace.
- Plan test metrics in advance. Lack of uniformity leads to incorrect conclusions.
- Match the criteria to business risk. Not every component requires the same depth.
- Document metrics, failures, and conditions. The reports are an engineering asset that shortens processes in the future.
Admati Agencies – Partners for Quality and Reliability
At Admati Agencies. Since 2007 we have been accompanying companies in the semiconductor, medical, and defense industries in the supply of components, subcomponents, and subsystems, alongside close engineering service.
We believe in excellence and uncompromising service. In our daily work we combine rich knowledge, mechanical tests, and quality control with a global supply chain. In our QA department you will find precise measuring equipment such as CMM, height gauges, calipers, and micrometers, which ensure compliance with the strictest standards.
When it comes to precision components manufactured by CNC machining, we help plan and perform appropriate strength and durability tests already at the prototype stage. In the production of electronic components such as printed circuit boards, we lead rigorous quality testing processes, including environmental and vibration tests according to customer requirements.
Our accumulated experience in coordination between manufacturers, laboratories, and regulatory bodies enables you to shorten approval times and produce reliable products. If you are planning a new product line, want to improve the reliability of an existing product, or need a partner who knows how to enlist suppliers and laboratories into one solution, we would be happy to talk.
Together we will choose the right test suite and bring your product to market strong, stable, and backed by data.
