AKRON—Smithers Rapra added two environmental testing chambers to its product testing laboratory in Lansing, Mich., expanding both capacity and capabilities.
The two new chambers increase the laboratory's internal capacity by more than 40 percent than, and allows for environmental conditioning and testing of larger components, according to a company news release.
The new chambers have a temperature range from -70ºC to 180ºC, and can be programmed to maintain a static temperature or cycle through multiple extremes to simulate a service environment, Smithers said. Pressure and vibration testing also can be integrated into the testing protocol.
Smithers moved to expand the facilities, having seen increased demand for greater chamber capacity to accommodate larger components for testing, said Jeff Andrasik, product testing operations manager.
"Consider an automotive hose assembly in an engine compartment," Andrasik said. "Temperature validation specifications have progressively become more extreme to accommodate changing operating and external environmental conditions. Having the ability to mirror service conditions more closely is critical to validating the performance of new hose designs."
The Lansing lab works in conjunction with the company's sister labs in Akron and Suzhou, China.