Interview
Challenges for measurement and testing technology
The challenges for German companies in 2023 will still be enormous. In an interview with Andreas Mühlbauer, Wolfgang Mörsch, Head of International Marketing at ZwickRoell, explains the consequences of this for testing technology and the opportunities it offers.
What are the consequences of the energy transition for testing technology?
With the amendment to the Climate Protection Act, the German government has tightened climate protection targets and set the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045. One of the most important drivers here is the topic of green hydrogen - with the result that materials and components will increasingly come into contact with hydrogen in the future. Due to its low density and small molecular cross-section, hydrogen diffuses easily and quickly through solid materials. This leads to hydrogen embrittlement in metallic materials, for example, and thus to a significant reduction in material strength. Mechanical material tests are therefore an important part of the characterization and development of new materials, which must function reliably and over the long term under the influence of hydrogen. Increasingly, such tests must be carried out under real environmental conditions, i.e. autoclaves or pressure vessels filled with liquid or gaseous hydrogen must be integrated into the testing and measuring systems.
What opportunities does digitalization offer?
In particular, the testing software can be used here to support the condition monitoring or maintenance of the installed testing technology, for example. Systematic machine and data monitoring allows faults to be detected at an early stage or proactively avoided. This makes quality control more reliable and increases efficiency, as data is available in real time via the cloud. There is also enormous potential in the high degree of standardization of measurement and testing technology. Standardization is the ideal basis for 100% automation of inspection processes. The trend towards cobots further accelerates and simplifies this process. Fully autonomous material testing processes have already been successfully installed, particularly in the metal industry, and the benefits are clearly measurable: higher reliability of test results, higher throughput of test samples and fewer specialist personnel are required.
Can simulations and AI replace real exams?
ChatGPT and other AI tools are currently on everyone's lips and are also gaining ground in many industrial sectors, but what consequences does this have for testing technology? Whether artificial intelligence or simulation programs, both must be filled with "content" from the real world. The "content" in this case is test and measurement results of real materials, determined on and by real machines. The better the simulation is to be, the more detailed output data, determined by real tests, must be available. AI itself can also support the user of the testing systems. ZwickRoell, for example, also uses artificial intelligence in its new developments to avoid operating errors and simplify the testing process. In any case, the future remains exciting.
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