Material testing laboratories Unit (MTLU)
Material testing laboratories Unit (MTLU)
Materials Testing Laboratories Unit has the mission of guaranteeing the quality of materials before use, for meeting standard safety requirements. In compliance with national or international standards, Materials Testing Laboratories test the quality of various imported goods and locally manufactured products against the requirements of the standards. In addition to national standards, the laboratory has a broad range of international test methods such as EAS, ISO, ARSO ASTM, IEC, IEEE, EN, DIN and BSI standards, among others. Like other RSB Laboratories, MTLU provides material product conformity assessment test services to support RSB certification services and national regulators, for example RICA, REMA, RURA, etc. MTLU services are open to individuals or private companies that need to check their compliance with standard requirements. The laboratory is managed in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. MTLU strives to ensure consumer safety, protection, and trade promotion in line with the mission of RSB.
Since 2011, MTLU has been progressively expanding its testing capability by choosing technological testing solutions that increase customer confidence in test results. That is the reason why most of testing equipment used, are software controlled and designed following international standard test methods.
Even though construction materials samples are the most frequently brought by customers, MTLU testing capacity goes beyond to cover: Polymers such as Environmental complying packaging materials, condoms, paints, mattresses, paper products such as books, paper bags, hygienic papers, textile and leather, improved biomass cook stove, solid biomass fuel, electrical, and electronics products such as electrical cables, photo voltaic solar panels, electrical batteries, and safety protective equipment.
The Unit has in place Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) facilities, which are modern techniques where materials are tested without causing damage, and can still be used if found to meet standards requirements. These include; X-ray spectroscopy, color spectroscopy, ultrasonic material thickness determination, ultrasonic inspection of material defect, and weld inspection.
MTLU strives to continually meet customer satisfaction; where possible, customers can propose test methods and researchers are free to bring samples and suggest test methods on their own in order to validate their research works.
Testing Laboratory’s capability has given priority to safety: Real estate infrastructure, food processing equipment, food packaging material, and environmentally-complying materials.
The entire scope is currently covered by the following Materials Testing laboratories:
This laboratory tests the following products:
Cement
Roofing sheets
Cement blocks and bricks
Paving blocks
Burnt bricks and blocks
Clay roofing tiles
Concrete
Sand
Plastic pipes
Floor tiles
Paints and coatings
CAPABILITIES
Cement standard consistency
Cement soundness
Cement loss on ignition
Cement chloride content
Cement sulfate content
Compressive strength and/or flexural strength of cement (2days /7days/28 days)
Base metal thickness of roofing sheets
Metal coating mass: Zinc and Al-Zn
Dimensional test of roofing sheets and gauge thickness identification
Dimensional test of steel plates
Compressive strength of bricks, blocks
Dimensional test of bricks, blocks, and roofing tile
Flexural strength building and construction materials
Particle size distribution of sand by sieve analysis
Compressive strength of concrete cubes and cylinders
Hydrostatic pressure test of plastic pipes
Tensile test of plastics materials and roofing sheets
Heat reversion
Compression test and ring stiffness test of plastics materials
Organic coating thickness on the material
Resistance to abrasion of coated material
Water absorption of building and construction materials
Moisture content of building and construction materials
Load test of assemblies
Polymers and textile laboratory
This laboratory tests the following products:
Condoms
Mattress
Leather materials
Papers products
Papers and boards as packaging materials
Textile
Plastics
Paint
CAPABILITIES
Freedom from holes in condoms
Bursting volume of condoms
Bursting pressure of condoms
Dimensions of condoms
Lubricant content in condoms
Pack seal integrity of condoms
Tensile properties of leather and textiles
Tear resistance of leather and textiles
Density of leather
Dimensional test of polymers, leather, and textile
Fabric weight/grammage
Fiber composition of cellulosic and non-cellulosic based materials
Colorfastness to washing, rubbing, weathering, lighting
Color identification
Bursting strength and bursting index of packaging materials
Elmendorf tear strength of packaging materials
Melt Flow index of plastic materials
Degradation end point test of plastic materials
Insoluble polymeric- plastic residues
Regulated Heavy metals in plastics
Heat reversion of plastics
Surface quality of packaging materials by friction coefficient test
Gurley air permeability test on paper packaging materials
Water absorptiveness by Cobb test on packaging materials
Mattress density
Mattress tensile strength
Mattress tear strength
Mattress dimension
Specific gravity/density of paint
Drying time of paints
Nonvolatile and volatile matter
pH of paint
Fineness of paint
Heavy metals in paint
Gloss value on coatings
Resistance to abrasion
Hardness of organic coating(paints)
Resistance to water penetration of waterproofing materials
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