Stress-Relaxation Testing

RJ Peterman & Associates conducts stress-relaxation tests for a variety of customers in the prestressing wire and strand industry. In 2007, we began researching the best way to set up and conduct long-term stress relaxation tests.

As part of this process, we obtained fabrication drawings and test procedures from several strand manufacturers, plus read numerous reports and university theses from around the world. In 2008, we began fabricating the first of our state-of-the-art test frames that can incorporate wires and strands from 0.15-inch diameter through 0.75-inch diameter.

We currently have a total of 15 stress-relaxation frames (the most at a single test lab in the world) housed in 2 specially designed rooms that maintains a consistent temperature to within 1.5 degrees F. All of our stress-relaxation frames utilize dual bridge load cells with independent excitation and readout sources to ensure accuracy and reliability.