Materials engineers turn to the PLX-Benchtop when they need true mechanical properties - not hardness proxies - and when destructive tests are too slow, impractical, or even impossible.
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The PLX-Benchtop provides tensile testing results in a fraction of the time and with a fraction of the material. By adding the PLX-Benchtop to their in-house testing workflow, a leading additive manufacturing OEM reduced tensile test requirements, saving over $125k annually on testing and material costs alone.
Measure stress-strain curves and metal strength parameters like yield and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) non-destructively.
Generate stress-strain results in as little as 5 minutes with minimal sample prep and streamlined testing - a fraction of what’s required by traditional tensile tests.
Test directly on real components and samples, as small as 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.75 mm, bypassing the need for costly tensile testing specimens.
Unlock stress-strain curves from welds and thin, small, or complex samples, unsuitable for tensile testing.
Indents can be spaced as close as 1.5 mm apart, allowing property mapping across welds and complex parts, revealing variations that tensile testing may miss.
The PLX-Benchtop is powered by PIP Testing (Profilometry-based Indentation Plastometry), a method developed by Plastometrex and internationally by recognised ASTM standard E3499-25. PIP Testing is non-destructive, measuring stress-strain response via a small indentation and finite element analysis. The method has been extensively validated against tensile testing, both by Plastometrex and independent third parties including Nikon (see Nikon validation study).
A small indent (ranging from ~0.25-1 mm wide and ~25-200 µm deep, depending on indenter size) is created on the material’s surface.
The indent is then scanned by an integrated profilometer, which captures the shape of the material deformation.
Using advanced finite element modelling, the software runs a simulation of the same indentation test, continuously adjusting the material properties in the simulation until the simulated indent matches the real one.
Once matched, the user is presented with a stress-strain curve, which provides key mechanical properties including yield strength and ultimate tensile strength (UTS).
With PIP, you get all the benefits of tensile and hardness testing in one, with none of the limitations.
Use this interactive tool to discover how PLX-Benchtop data compares with tensile testing results.
1. Choose device, base metal, alloy, or processing method
2. Explore comparison data between PIP and tensile
3. Book a trial to see how PIP performs on your materials
Jed Robinson-Wall
Materials Scientist at Renishaw
Behrang Poorganji
VP of Materials Technology at Nikon AM Synergy
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Prof. Roger Reed FREng FIMMM
Professor of Materials and Solid Mechanics at Oxford University
Tony Fry
Principal Scientist at National Physics Laboratory
Mark Jackson
Research & Innovation at Leonardo Helicopters UK
Ian Brooks
Technical Director at Additure
Benjamin Haigh
Materials Scientist at Renishaw
Kazuhiro Mizuta
Managing Director at Aeroedge
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Dr Calvin Stewart
Innovation Scholar & Associate Professor at Ohio State University
From the bespoke software that powers the PLX-Benchtop and provides a detailed analytics bank, to our expanding range of add-on modules that unlock new testing capabilities.
The PLX-HotStage is an add-on module for our benchtop testing device that extracts metal stress-strain curves from indentation test data at temperatures of up-to 800 °C
Explore software-driven performance improvements, expert application support, and a host of other benefits with our CORSICA+ subscription.
Receive a tailored quote, or book a demo with our application engineers to see the system in action.
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