Design and Construction of an Automated Universal Microtensometer

The present work develops, builds, and integrates an equipment that facilitates the micromechanical study of natural and synthetic fibers and composites. This equip- ment, called Automated Universal Microtensometer, was designed with the integration of the latest technology to be able to test fibers and interfacial properties of composites. The reason why it is important to measure the strength of either fibers or composite materials is that these analyses determine the use, application and ca- pabilities as a functional material for a particular purpose. As a result of this project, a reliable and automated equipment was obtained with the aid of virtual instrumen- tation software, with friendly display settings on computer screen to perform a cali- bration load cell on a simplified manner, providing load data against displacement with high accuracy and repeatability. Validation through materials with known characteristics allowed the equipment to ensure reliability.