Element Materials Technology (Element) has invested $3.2m to expand its aerospace destructive testing capabilities and capacity at its Charlotte, North Carolina laboratory

The investment in elevated temperature tensile, creep and stress rupture testing and microstructural evaluation is in direct response to increased customer demand due to the rise in production of aircraft and aero engine components.

Element has invested in a number of new pieces of equipment, including two CNC grinders, three CNC lathes, 39 creep and stress rupture frames, two EDM plunge machines and an elevated temperature tensile (ETT) frame. The acquisition of this equipment means that the Charlotte laboratory has expanded its existing capabilities in ETT, room temperature tensile testing, creep/rupture testing and grain size determination/microstructural evaluation.

The Charlotte facility is also the first Element laboratory to have the EDM plunge machines, therefore enabling it to extract cylindrical specimen blanks for the first time - significantly increasing testing speeds.

Rick Sluiters, EVP Aerospace at Element, said: "This significant investment in new and highly specialized equipment at our Charlotte laboratory boosts capacity and capability. We are now in a position to test in higher volumes and take on testing projects of a larger scale, which allows us to meet evolving customer needs and places Element Charlotte as a center of excellence in aerospace testing on the US east coast."

Element has over 80 years' experience in both commercial and military aerospace testing and dedicates more than 3,000 technicians, engineers and scientists to the sector. The company has 29 Nadcap-accredited laboratories with 46 Nadcap accreditations, and its customer approvals, technical expertise, and geographical footprint are unrivalled in the aerospace testing, inspection and certification industry.