R-TECH Materials, an award-winning UK materials testing laboratory, will be showcasing its composite testing capabilities at this year’s Sea Work exhibition.

Having considerable experience in testing composites for the marine industry, for clients such as Lloyds Register EMEA, Tufcot and Wessex Resins, the R-Tech Materials team are excited to debut as an exhibitor at Sea Work 2018.

Based in South Wales, R-TECH’s polymer and composites laboratories test the mechanical, thermal and chemical properties of non-metallic materials, components and products. These include plastics and fibre-reinforced composites for material approval and characterisation, to identify quality issues, solve processing problems or identify why a product has failed.

R-TECH’s fully equipped composites testing laboratories include a state-of-the-art Zwick universal testing machine which operates in a temperature range of -70°C to 250°C, as well as a Hirox digital microscope and Zeiss Scanning Electron Microscope.

With the capability to test complex orientations to loads from 1N up to 1500kN, R-TECH’s standard tests include tension, interlaminar shear, in-plane shear, shore hardness, compression and mechanical properties of sandwich panels, as well as fatigue testing (in tension or in bending).  This testing is carried out to ISO and ASTM standards under controlled temperature and humidity conditions, all accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Authority (UKAS).

R-TECH Materials Composites Manager, Dr Geraint Havard, said: “We are really excited to make our debut at Sea Work this year on the Composites UK pavilion and we’re looking forward to showcasing how we can help manufacturers test and analyse composites – be it a simple one off set of tests or a large scale R&D project.  Thanks to our highly qualified engineers, materials scientists and chemists, we have a global reputation for fast, accurate and independent testing.”

Having won the JEC Award for Innovation in Testing last year, 2018 promises to be a big year for R-TECH.  The company is on track to secure aerospace approval from the National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program (Nadcap) and will also be teaming up with Zwick Roell to run a fourth round of its highly popular training course on mechanical testing of composites.

Visit R-TECH Materials at Sea Work on Stand C1 Hall 1 between 3rd – 5th July 2018.