Newly modified tensile test fixture / Mohd. Farriz Baharulrazi, Farah Hani Mohamad Alli and Rosmaria Abd. Hamid

The main objective of this project was to modify the existing car jack that was used as the main component in a tensile testing machine previously designed by a group of Mechanical Engineering students. Basically our task was to replace the jack system schematically shown in picture 1 (a) with the type of screw - gear system schematically shown in picture 1 (b). Both jacks were used to apply a tensile load to a test specimen. The educational tensile test fixture with the jack system is shown in picture 2(a) and the complete assembled of newly modified screw gear system is shown in picture 2(b). In addition, we learned how to use lathe machine which was used to make threads and gears. We were exposed to the operation of milling machine. This provided good experience for us in understanding the operation of lathe and milling machines which is very useful for our studies and future career. Besides, we learned how to fabricate a tensile specimen from a thin plate. The specimen was initially cut off using a metal cutting machine before it can be slotted in the ‘blank’ and stamped by compressive force to get a specimen of desired dimensions. In this project we also improved our skills in using Microsoft Excel to draw graph to determine some mechanical properties for the materials i.e. yield stress, modulus of elasticity and tensile strength. The other important aspect of performing this project was to fulfill the requirement of the Mechanical Engineering Programme for a diploma.