The Advanced Structural Testing Centre (ASTC)
The ASTC is a major research and certification facility and is designed for high-capacity, industrial-scale structural validation.
The Advanced Structural Testing Centre (ASTC) is a major research and certification facility located within the University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and is designed for high-capacity, industrial-scale structural validation. It is notably the only structural test facility within a UK university to hold UKAS "in-house methods" accreditation, meaning its test results are industry-certified for commercial use.
It's core capabilities are:
- The strong floor: A massive 10m x 10m reinforced concrete floor (extendable to 20m x 5m) used to anchor huge steel frames and hydraulic actuators. This allows engineers to pull, push, and twist full-sized aircraft wings or nuclear reactor components.
- High-load testing: The center can apply immense forces of up to 800 tonnes of tension or compression.
- Environmental testing: They can "box up" entire structures to test them at extreme temperatures, simulating the freezing conditions of high-altitude flight or the intense heat of industrial machinery.
- Microstructural evaluation: The ASTC has a dedicated facility to look at materials under a microscope to understand exactly how and why a metal or composite failed at a molecular level.
The team works with clients across the aerospace, automotive, energy, research and advanced manufacturing industries having experience delivering projects where precision, safety, and collaboration with research and testing environments are critical. The team are currently available for research collaboration and specialise in:
Structural testing
Specialist fabrication
Data capture
Contact Luke Jones to discuss your current or upcoming projects and explore how the team could support your testing programmes, either on a project-by-project basis or as part of a longer-term partnership.