TNO Eindhoven opts for Asmec testing technology

Eindhoven-based TNO, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Natural Scientific Research, is the country's largest independent research establishment. For its research activities in the field of adhesive and frictional forces between smooth surfaces TNO uses an Asmec testing instrument.

The wide range of application of Asmec's nano-mechanical tester UNAT is demonstrated in the precision measurements of friction and adhesion between surfaces carried out at TNO. To measure adhesive forces by means of force-distance measurement, a polished silicon infrared lens is brought into contact with various surfaces with different degrees of roughness using defined forces and then withdrawn from the surface again Here too, the UNAT nano-mechanical tester was selected on account of its accuracy, strength and stability and instrument stiffness.

"The testing apparatus (UNAT) was chosen primarily on grounds of accuracy, stability and instrument stiffness. High-quality performance of complicated measurements was possible. In addition, reproducibility of the data obtained was excellent, enabling good comparisons with other measurements. The instrument is very flexible and enables very accurate measurement," stated Dr Hartmut Fischer of the Institute of Industrial Innovation.