Lea Laboratory for Materials and Structural Integrity

The Lea Lab is where heavy duty testing on large size components is conducted.

Engineer working on equipment
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The Lea Lab is a high-impact facility within the Faculty of Engineering and is specifically designed for "heavy-duty" engineering research and testing. 

The lab is used for Structural Integrity research and Tribology (the study of friction, wear and lubrication) and specialises in simulating real-world mechanical stresses from small to large scales.

Key features of the lab

  • Servohydraulic Universal Testing Machines: A variety of servohydraulic UTMs provide capability from 12.5kN to 400kN in tension and compression, with more specialised machines providing torsion testing up to 1kNm and biaxial testing up to 100kN per axis.
  • Digital Image Correlation (DIC): Full field, non-contact, high performance 3D surface strain measurement provides rich data and insight into material/part performance unlike other instrumentation. We have cameras that can shoot up to 100,000 frames per second to capture even the most dynamic events
  • Environmental Chamber: Allows testing of materials up to 550c on UTMs up to 100kN. Special extensometers rated to these temperatures allow precise measurements both axially and laterally allowing parameters like the Poisson ratio, UTS, Young’s modulus to be determined for standards such as ASTM E8 or ASTM D3039. The chamber also has a window to allow digital image correlation.
  • Wheel/rail simulator: A full-size rig used to study how train wheels interact with tracks to improve safety and reduce wear
  • Wind turbine gearbox testing: Research into the endurance of bearings in massive wind turbines to make renewable energy more reliable

It is primarily a research-led facility used by: PhD researchers & academics working on industrial partnerships; postgraduate students focusing on mechanical engineering or materials science and industrial consultants solving high-stakes mechanical failure problems.

For more information about the Lea lab and how it can be of benefit to you, contact the team.