More than 100 years of innovation
We are proud to present to you the evolution of Shimadzu’s Material Testing products.
Each entry showcases Shimadzu’s commitment to enhancing precision, efficiency, and user-friendliness in material analysis. From the launch of the first material testing machines to the latest innovations, Shimadzu has played a pivotal role in diverse industries, including construction, automotive, and aerospace, ensuring the integrity and safety of materials used in critical applications.
1920s and 1930s
1921
Ono Rotary Bending Fatigue testing machine
Development of the Ono-type rotating bending fatigue testing machine to perform four-point bending fatigue testing, where the specimen is supported at two points and loaded at two points.
1931
Brinell Hardness Tester
Start of manufacturing Brinell and Rockwell Hardness tester which were able to create an indention with the shape in accordance with the principle under certain loads.
1936
1T Creep Testing machine
Development of a customized Creep testing machine, which is capable on providing a constant 1T load over a long duration and recording the force and displacement.
1940s and 1950s
1947
Development of rubber Hardness tester
Enabling of precise determination of Rubber hardness, which was not possible with hardness testing techniques for other materials.
1950
Charpy impact testing machine
Release of the first standard Shimadzu Charpy tester, capable of performing constant determination of impact toughness especially for metals.
1955
First hydraulic universal testing System
Development of a hydraulic universal testing machine enabling tensile, compression and bending test operated by a hydraulic power supply to ensure high forces accurately.
1959
Manufacturing of first Autograph IS System
The first Shimadzu electromechanical testing system that records automatically the test-graph and by this visualize the connection of force and displacement.
1960s to 1990s
1965
500T Structural Member Test
Structural Members need to withstand high forces and therefore need to be tested at high forces. This frame enabled testing up to 500T on big structural members.
1967
Manufacturing of EVH – First Shimadzu Fatigue testing system
Manufacturing of Shimadzu first Fatigue testing system, named EVH. The System was dedicated for testing cars in their whole structure and is the first step in Shimadzu history of fatigue testing.
1968
First fully automatic Charpy testing System
Delivery of the first Shimadzu fully automatic Charpy testing system enabling automatic Charpy tests.
1976
Delivery of fully automatic universal testing System
Automation was already requested in early stages and Shimadzu followed the need by realizing a fully automated universal testing system for steel applications.
1983
Release of the Autograph Series AG-A
Proceeding in the way of improvement and standardization the AG-A universal testing system was released.
1987
Release of the Sald 1000
A foray in particle size measurement. The Sald 1000 was released enabling particle size distribution measurement from 0,1µm to 1000µm.
1989
Release of the AG-E Series Autograph
Further development in the Universal testing Serieas AG. Higher speeds, higher forces and better controlling lead to more accuracy in tensile, compression and bending tests.
1991
Release of the CCH/CCM Series Compression testing machine
The interest in creating compression test data for concrete material raised, therefore effort was put into a dedicated compression testing machine.
1996
Biaxial fatigue testing machine for seismic isolation rubber
To prevent relevant data for seismic isolation Shimadzu realized a bixial fatigue testing machine, capable of earthquake simulation. By this safe infrastructure could be developed.
1996
Release MMT Microservo
As not only big structures needed to be analyzed regarding their fatigue behaviour, the MMT Microservo was released. The small table top systems characterized by an electromagnetic actuator and frequencies up to 100Hz enabled fast evalution of fatigue behavior up to 500N. A step forward in dynamic testing.
1996
CFT500D
As extrusion process besides other production processes developed more and more the anylize of flow testing got higher focus, leading to further development in the CFT500 Flow tester Series.
1997
EZ-Test Compact table-top tester
Putting more effort into footprint and laboratory size, the EZ-Test Compact table top tester was invented. Requiring just one column for small loads the need of installation place could be reduced, making it a perfect match for small loads application e.g. in Food and Pharma.
1997
HMV-1/2 Micro Vickers hardness tester
A further evolution step in hardness tester at Shimadzu, with the release of the HMV Series and the models HMV-1/2 enabling secure determination of Micro Vickers Hardness.
2000s
2001
Release of the EHF-L
Putting dynamic tests at bigger loads on a table, the EHF-L System was invented. This small System allowed testing up to 20kN at 50Hz whilst being placed on a table.
2001
Concreto 2000
As automatic successor of the CCM/CCH System for compression tests on concrete material the Concreto system was released to test concrete material upto 2000kN.
2002
Autograph EZ Graph
Development in speed and accuracy at small loads and small footprint. The EZ-Graph provides accurate measurements up to 10kN at speeds in the range of 0,0005mm/min up to 1000mm/min with a sampling rate of 1,25msec.
2004
USF 2000A
A milestone in terms of fatigue testing. The development of the Ultrasonic fatigue testing system USF 2000A enables enabled dramatique reduction of testing time using the resonance frequency of the specimen at 20kHz.
2005
Controller 4830
Dynamic testing requires accurate controlling. One part of the story is the frame providing the movement and holder the specimen, the other part is the controller, giving commands, reading results and eliminating movement errors leading to a highly accurate movement control and measurement results. The 4830 combines all of this.
2007
AG-X Series
Further development in the state-of-the-art Series for universal testing the AG-X incorporates a high accuracy, high speed, high forces and a perfect control building a state-of-the-art system.
2008
HPV-2
Everything becomes faster, therefore we need to be able to observe things faster. The HPV-2 Camera enables observing high speed phenomena at 1million frames per second. Revealing the unseen.
2009
AGS-X Series
Not just R&D require accurate results, also the demand for accurate measurements in Q&A is required. With the AGS-X the system for Q&A was renewed. High Speed testing and sampling, allows fast and reliable results for production lines.
2009
EMT – Electromagnetic Servopulser
The request for clean labs and clean systems, questions the need of oil as source to realize dynamic tests. Were high forces are not required, electrodynamic systems are the answer. The EMT allows tests up to 1kN with frequencies of 200Hz whilst completely electric driven. Green transformation in early stages.
2010s
2011
UH-X/FX
Where electromechanics reach their limits in terms of force/place ratio, hydraulic power is the answer. The UH_X/FX Series is the successor of the long history of hydraulic testing systems and enables state of the art testing at high forces up to 4mN.
2012
EZ-X
The need of texture analyzes pushes the need for small test systems fitting into food and pharma laboratories. The EZ-X is the continuation of the success of the EZ-Graph System, providing high accuracy, speed and control at loads up to 5kN whilst having a small footprint.
2013
HPV-X
A unique technique taken a step further. The HPV-X allows recordings of up to 10 million images per second, enabling high-speed phenomena to be viewed on a different level.
2013
HMV-G
Hardness testing remains an important testing technique for materials, and Shimadzu continues the history in this application field, providing a successor of the HMV 1 / 2 with more load stages, multiple indenters and multiple lenses to be attached at the same time.
2014
CFT-500EX
The CFT calculates shear rate, melt viscosity, and flow beginning temperature by applying heat and test force to resins in pellet form or other form and extruding it from a capillary tube. A technique that’s being used by Shimadzu already for years, perfectly aligned for the actual processes.
2015
HPV-X2
As light matters – even more at such recording speeds – the FTCMOS Sensor used in the HPV-X was exchanged by the newly developed FTCMOS 2 image sensor leading to a six times higher sensitivity and high improvement of the image quality.
2015
SMV 301
The determination of viscosimetry, can be different from material to material and the required characteristic values. The SMV301 enables accurate measurement Mooney viscosity and Scorch time of unvulcanized rubber.
2015
USF2000A – Meanstress Application
The USF 2000A was already a milestone in fatigue testing but enabled just testing without applied meanstress and a stress ration of R=-1. With the integration of the technique in the Autograph testing frame, testing with a meanstress of 1,5kN become possible – opening new opportunities.
2016
NJ-Servo
Single dynamic actuators are still mostly driven by hydraulic power. As the trend and requirement is going into clean energy, the electomechanical actuator NJ Servo was invented to realize fatigued test completely electrical driven up to a load of 30kN.
2019
AGX-V
Faster Speeds, higher accuracy range, more applicable sensors are just some of the benefits that are included with the new AGX-V system – the successor of the AG-Xplus System for Universal testing in Research and development. The AGX-V incorporates the knowledge gathered over 100 years of testing and meets the highest standards!
2019
HMV-G30
Hardness testing is indispensable in the research of metallographic structures. The renevel of the HMV-G20 allows being compliant with the most actual standards and enabling precise automatic measurement.
2020s
2022
MIV-X
As a driver for innovation and with a long experience in material testing, a complete new evaluation technique is invented. By the combination of sheraography with ultrasonic vibration the ultrasonic optical flaw detector is born. This enables visualization of defects like, Cracks, voids and delamination below the surface.
2023
AGX-V2
The extension of the AGX-V Product line by wide type, reinforced yoke and separate controller type models complete the portfolio and enlarge the field of applications that can be covered. In addition, the user interface is gets a never been seen feature - XV-Talk enables voice control of our testing system!
And that is not all!
New innovations will be revealed as Shimadzu Corporation is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2025.
Stay informed about our anniversary and visit our anniversary website at https://www.shimadzu.com/150th_anniversary
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