Composite Material Testing

Mechanical performance and structural integrity

Anton Paar’s scratch and indentation testers provide key insights into surface hardness, interfacial strength, and resistance to deformation, including for fiber-reinforced systems or layered laminates. 

This data supports the optimization of layup strategies, protective coatings, and bonding methods. For aerospace OEMs and defense contractors, reproducible mechanical data helps to validate durability and performance under thermal cycling, vibration, high-speed impacts, and other stresses – including resistance to ballistic impact, high-G maneuvers, and extreme environmental exposure.

Resin and matrix rheology

In composite material testing programs for defense and aerospace, rheological characterization informs process development, quality control, and supplier benchmarking, helping engineers ensure consistent part production with minimal defects. 

Anton Paar’s rheometers evaluate resin behavior during processing, curing, and end-use conditions to provide insights into viscosity, gelation point, and shear response. This predicts how resin will behave during prepregging, molding, or filament winding – ensuring alignment with production efficiency and final part integrity, especially under the tightly controlled specifications used in military procurement.

Surface and interface characterization

In defense and aerospace applications, surface integrity must be maintained under mechanical stress, corrosive environments, or thermal fatigue. Anton Paar’s tribometers and surface analyzers provide detailed information about friction, wear resistance, surface energy, and coating adhesion, enabling the development of robust joining and coating strategies that prolong component service life and reduce maintenance requirements. Accurate interface data like this also supports reliable bonding and finishing decisions for defense-grade platforms, from UAVs to armored vehicles and space payloads.

Particle and filler dispersion analysis

Many advanced composites incorporate fillers, nanoparticles, or reinforcement additives to tune material performance. Anton Paar’s particle size and zeta potential analyzers help evaluate dispersion quality, stability, and interaction between constituents – ensuring homogeneity in composite formulations and reducing the risk of voids, agglomeration, or inconsistent mechanical properties. 

This supports both R&D and production control, especially in defense applications requiring thermal conductivity, electromagnetic shielding, or enhanced mechanical performance.

Density and fiber volume fraction measurement of solid composites

The density of a composite component is more than a simple physical parameter – it reflects manufacturing consistency, fiber volume ratio, and void content. 

Anton Paar’s solid density meters provide fast and accurate measurements that help verify compliance with design targets and process stability. 

This is crucial in composite material testing workflows, where precise density data support qualification of parts for aerospace and defense applications – from satellite components to glass-fiber composites for armored systems. Such data is also key to correlating processing conditions with structural uniformity and weight efficiency – essential for balancing protection, mobility, and mission-specific payload capacity in defense platforms.