SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- ELECTRO-MECHANICAL TEST SYSTEM FOR MECHANICAL TESTING OF METALS AND CERAMICS
- Notice Date
- 7/7/2004
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- 3610 Collins Ferry Road (MS-I07) P.O. Box 880 Morgantown, WV 26507-0880
- ZIP Code
- 26507-0880
- Solicitation Number
- DE-RQ26-04NT400623
- Response Due
- 7/24/2004
- Archive Date
- 8/23/2004
- Point of Contact
- Robert Mohn, Contracting Officer, 412-386-4963, mohn@netl.doe.gov;Robert Mohn, Contract Specialist, 412-386-4963, mohn@netl.doe.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Robert Mohn, Contract Specialist
(mohn@netl.doe.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- DESCRIPTION: This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 13.5, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation number DE-RQ26-04NT400623 is issued as a Request for Quote (RFQ). This requirement is being issued as a Request for Quotation using Simplified Acquisition Procedures. The following items are to be purchased by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA and is to be shipped to our site located in Albany, OR. Item to be purchased is an Electro-Mechanical Test System for Mechanical Testing of Metals and Ceramics with the following salient characteristics and specifications. Award will be made to the low priced, technically acceptable (equal) offeror. Equality shall be determined by the offered equipment?s compliance with the following performance requirements. Compliance will be determined by the offeror?s provision of literature showing performance capabilities or through written narrative discussing the points not covered by the published literature. Specification for Electro-Mechanical Test System for Mechanical Testing of Metals and Ceramics The purpose of this specification is to procure an electromechanical (screw-drive) test system for the primary purpose of quasi-static tensile and compression testing of metals. The control system should not be limited to static testing, but should also be capable of running simple fully reversed, tension-tension, or compression-compression fatigue tests. The Albany Research Center conducts research in support of the Nation?s energy needs. Current research needs span the range from slow strain rate tests to strain rate change tests to strain rate sensitivity assessment to 1200C compression tests. Slow and fast crosshead rates, high data collection rates, and true strain control are all required features of the new system. The new system will complement the 25kN capacity Instron 1123 with 5800 retrofit. As such, it is necessary that the current grips and extensometers be accommodated by the new system. Sufficient horizontal working space between the columns and vertical working space between the crosshead and base is necessary to accommodate the existing 1000C split tube furnace and the 1600C split refractories furnace, sequentially. The specifications listed below constitute the minimum requirements for this system. Materials Test System Specifications 1.0 Load Frame 1.1 The load frame proposed shall have a capacity of at least +/-20,000 lbs and no more than +/- 30,000 lbs. The frame shall allow for tensile and compression tests to be performed below the moving crosshead. 1.2 To allow sufficient clearance for the existing furnaces to swing in and out as well as to open the clamshells, the horizontal distance between the load frame's columns shall be at least 22 inches. 1.3 To accommodate a wide range of fixtures, specimens, and furnaces, the load frame with its load cell installed shall have a crosshead travel of at least 48 inches and a vertical test opening of at least 50 inches. 1.4 The loading rate of the crosshead shall be adjustable from at least 0.0001 inches/minute to 20 inches/min for strain rate sensitivity tests. The speed accuracy over this range shall be better than +/-0.1% of set speed. 1.5 The crosshead position control resolution shall be no larger than 2.5 ?in. 1.6 The load frame shall be capable of testing to full capacity load at speeds up to 10 inches/min without using clutches or requiring gear changes. 1.7 The load frame shall be capable of a return speed of at least 10 inches/min with built-in deceleration. 1.8 The load frame shall be provided with a system for zero mechanical backlash in the screws. 1.9 The load frame shall have high precision guidance columns to ensure linear crosshead travel. 2.0 Load Cells and Extensometer 2.1 The load frame shall include a load cell rated at the full capacity of the machine and that can measure loads between 1% and 100% of full scale with an accuracy of better than +/-0.4% of reading and measure loads between 0.2% and 1% of full scale with an accuracy of better than +/-0.5% of reading. 2.2 The load cell provided shall have an overload capacity without permanent zero shift of 300% of capacity. Load cell shall employ temperature compensation from 32 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. 2.3 For durability purposes, the load cell provided shall be designed to tolerate off-axis loading typically associated with specimen tearing at failure. ?S? type load cells will not be acceptable. 2.4 The load cell provided and extensometers to be used on the machine shall include an identification resistor in the connector physically attached to the transducer that identifies it (capacity, span, etc.) to the frame controller. 2.5 The load cell provided must be verified on-site at Albany Research Center per ASTM E-4 and be traceable to NIST standards. 3.0 Closed Loop Digital Controller 3.1 The electronics shall include self-test diagnostics with an external display for hardware and communication status. 3.2 The system shall include a controller that uses digital electronics to close the loop on the load or position channels at a minimum of 5000Hz (5000 times per second). Closed loop load or stress control shall be achieved through feedback from the load cell. Closed loop position or speed control to be achieved through feedback from the crosshead encoder. 3.3 In order to close the loop at 5000Hz, separate A/D signal conditioners that samples data at least 40KHz shall be provided for each data channel (load, position and strain). 3.4 To reduce noise on the load signal, AC excitation shall be used. Additionally the sensor conditioners, digital control and data acquisition electronics shall be located outside the personal computer chassis to reduce exposure to electrical noise from the PC?s power supply. 3.5 The resolution of the electronics analog to digital converter shall be at least 19 bits (1 part in 524,288) to allow the system to utilize a large single range and therefore eliminate many smaller manually selected ranges that have different resolutions and crossover transients. 3.6 The electronics shall provide automatic recognition and automatic calibration of the load cell and optional extensometers. 3.7 The controller must prevent any test proceeding with an un-calibrated transducer to prevent incorrect data being gathered. 3.8 The electronics shall include automatic overload protection for the load cell to prevent inadvertent damage from overloading. 3.9 The load measurement accuracy of the load cell and electronics shall better than +/- 0.4% or reading down to 1/100 th of the load cell capacity and +/-0.5% of reading down to 1/500th of the load cell capacity according to the latest ASTM E4 standard method. The load resolution shall be constant over the same range of the load cell. 3.10 The system shall allow for automatic and manual transducer calibration. 3.11 The controller shall have the ability to send data to a PC for storage to disk at rates up to 5000 Hz on the load, displacement and 2 strain channels simultaneously. 3.12 Waveform generation to be at least 32bit resolution (1 part in 109). Control waveforms must include triangle shapes 3.13 Communication between the load frame controller and PC must be through an industry standard IEEE-488 interface. 3.14 The control system must support, and the relevant software packages should be available, to enable the Albany Research Center to write and run their own application packages directly within the National Instrument?s LabVIEW environment, without any additional compiling being required. 3.15 The system shall have a control panel permanently mounted on the test frame that works in conjunction with the software and electronics to provide ease of use to the operator for functions such as starting and stopping a test. This panel shall also have a crosshead return function. Jogging of the crosshead shall also be available through this panel with the ability of fast and slow jog. Hand held units must sit in a cradle (or similar device) on the test frame. 3.16 The test system shall have a specimen protection feature that prevents unwanted loads from being applied to the test specimen during test setup and jogging. This feature should be able to be activated using the control panel mounted on the test frame. Specimen protection must allow for user input of loads down to 0.25% of the load cell capacity. 3.17 The electronics must include two strain conditioner channels for use with self identified, rationalized extensometers. These conditioners must also be capable of accepting +/- 10V DC inputs. Strain channels must be configurable to calibrate and name the channel for use such as temperature. 3.18 The electronics and software provided must allow for the future addition of an optional data acquisition card capable of accepting 16 single ended or 8 double-ended inputs at data rates up to 5000 Hz. 3.19 The electronics and software provided must allow for the future addition of an optional non-contacting video extensometer. 4.0 Software and Personal Computer 4.1 The software provided shall have a graphical user interface, adhere to Windows standards and be Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP compatible. DOS applications running under Windows are not acceptable. 4.2 Software must provide for data capture on a minimum of three user-selected channels simultaneously. The channels must include (at a minimum) time, stress, load, strain, displacement, and crosshead displacement. The data capture intervals must also be independently user-selected. Automatic data capture should be an option. 4.3 During heat-up for elevated tensile and compression testing, the system must automatically adjust to maintain a small user-defined load on the specimen to accommodate temperature-induced expansion. 4.4 Tensile software must be supplied that provides test control and result calculations required for most tension testing requirements. Test control functionality must include pre-cycling, pre-loading, up to three test ramps with automatic changeover at user specified values, extensometer removal and switch-over from strain to displacement, creep and relaxation control, selectable control modes (load, strain, displacement, true stress, true strain) and test end/break detection control. Available test results and calculations must include slack correction; compliance correction; creep/relaxation (total and delta); tensile strength; automatic, secant, chord, cursor-selected, and tangent modulus; cursor-selected points and calculations at cursor-selected points; non-proportional elongation; "r? and "n" calculations (including K); yield based on any of the modulus methods, upper and lower yield; break, pre-set point detection, peak values, reduction in area, and YPE. 4.5 Compression software must be supplied that provides test control and result calculations required for most compression testing requirements. Test control functionality must include pre-cycling, pre-loading, dual test speeds with automatic changeover at user specified values, creep and relaxation control and test end/break detection control. Available test results and calculations must include compressive strength; automatic, secant, chord, cursor-selected, and tangent modulus; values at cursor-selected points; yield strength determined by the different modulus methods, break, pre-set point detection, peak values, slack correction and creep/relaxation (total and delta). 4.6 Flexural software must be supplied that provides test control and result calculations required for most flexure testing requirements. Both three and four point flexure tests must be supported along with the ability to change the support span distance and span ratio. Test control functionality must include pre-loading, creep and relaxation control, and test end/break detection control. Available test results and calculations must include chord, tangent, and cursor-selected modulus, outer fiber stress and strain, yield based on any of the modulus calculations, break, pre-set point detection, peak values, and creep/relaxation (total and delta). 4.7 Fatigue software must be supplied that allows fully reversed, tension-tension, and compression-compression loading by utilizing ramps and holds. Control modes must include load, stress, strain, and position. 4.8 All software must allow test results to be reanalyzed using different parameters, such as changing from a chord modulus to a secant modulus, or changing the parameters used for the chord modulus. Reanalysis must allow calculations to be added and calculated after the testing is completed. The ability to input user-defined calculations based on collected data must be available for tension, compression, and flexural testing. The user-defined calculations must print out on the report. 4.9 Software must allow output of raw data in ASCII format or some format compatible with MS-Excel. Reports and graphs must be compatible with MS-Word or WordPerfect Office. 4.10 Software must allow control movement of the crosshead as a function of load, stress, strain or true strain in addition to position control. 4.11 The software shall offer multiple modes of detecting peak or break values. Sample break shall be able to be easily configurable by the operator as a percent drop from 0.02% to 99% from the peak load. To prevent false break values the user should also be able to set a minimum point where the system shall start to look for the break event. In addition, sample break shall be detectable based on a load or extension level being achieved. The level can be defined as a transducer feedback level or rate level for any transducer. 4.12 The software above shall be able to be used in US Customary (lb, inch), SI (N, mm) or Metric (kg, mm) units as desired by the operator. In any given test, the operator shall have the option of selecting what units results shall be reported in. The software shall also allow the same result to be reported with all three units if desired. 4.13 The above software?s help system shall be fully developed and be HTML based and context sensitive in its use. The help system shall also have a search engine for looking up subjects. The help system should explain the algorithms used in calculating results and also describe the machine operation with reference to pictures. 4.14 During a test, the software should display in real time a graph, current load, displacement, and 2 strain values. 4.15 The electronics provided must allow for the future purchase of an optional set of LabVIEW software drivers and an example program for use with National Instruments LabVIEW version 4.1.0 or greater. These drivers should support both machine control and data acquisition and provide a shell program from which the user can develop custom software applications. 4.16 The test system should be compatible with a Dell brand personal computer supplied by Albany Research Center that has the following specifications: 2.2 MHz Pentium 4 processor, 256 MBytes of Ram 20 GByte Hard drive 17-inch monitor 20X min./48X max. RW CD-ROM Microsoft Windows XP One full size height and depth PCI slot. One unused serial port. 5.0 Test Fixturing 5.1 One set of wedge action grips rated for the full capacity of the system must be supplied with adapters to work on the load cell included in the system. These grips must allow for reverse stress testing over a temperature range of -70 ?C. to 300 ?C. 5.2 For the wedge grip in section 5.1 the vendor must supply the following sets of faces: (1) Serrated faces that allow for testing of flat specimens that range from 0 to 0.62 inches thick and at least 1 inch wide. (2) Vee faces that accommodate round specimens that range from 0.25 to 0.625 inches in diameter. Multiple faces to cover the specified ranges are acceptable. 5.3 The test systems electronics shall be compatible with the following Albany Research Center?s existing extensometers and deflectometer that are self-identifying on the Instron 5800 system: (1) MTS 632.11c-20, (2) Epsilon 3448-025m-020-HT, (3) Epsilon 3542-0100-100-ST, and (4) Epsilon 3540-012m-ST. Any cables necessary for these devices to be self-identifying on the new system must be provided. 5.4 In order to connect the Albany Research Center?s existing Instron 5000 lb wedge grips to the proposed load cell, a flexible and rigid upper adapter shall be provided. The size of the required adapter is 1.25 inch in diameter with a 0.5 inch clevis pin. 5.5 In order to connect the Albany Research Center?s existing Instron 5000 lb wedge grips on the proposed frame, a rigid lower adapter shall be provided. The size of the required adapter is 1.25 inch in diameter with a 0.5 inch clevis pin. 6.0 Safety 6.1 For safety purposes, the frame shall include a large ISO approved emergency stop switch. Rocker switches are not acceptable. 6.2 For safety purposes, the test frame shall have dual level mechanical limit switches. Should the moving crosshead ever pass the first level limit, the second level limit would cut the power to the motor. 6.3 For safety purposes, all rotating machinery shall be fully enclosed. This enclosure should protect the lead screws and guidance columns from damage from grips and dirt. 6.4 The system shall automatically disable the frame if the PC is shut down. 6.5 The system shall have the capability to detect disconnection of a transducer, cable faults and signal loss and prevent that transducer from being used for control. 6.6 To help protect the load cell from accidental damage, the electronics should automatically set up a load limit in the frame?s controller to the capacity of the load cell independently of the operator. 6.7 The system shall check safety limits at no less than every millisecond. 6.8 The frame shall include a test control panel located near the test area with clearly marked dedicated buttons for controlling the frame. These should include at least start, stop, return, jog up, jog down, and fine jog functions. The panel shall also include at least two programmable keys for user selectable options such balancing load, excluding a specimen, and other functions. 6.9 The test frame?s control panel shall include a switch that allows the operator to quickly turn on a low load limit (user settable) above which the frame cannot be driven. When activated it allows the operator to place a specimen into the frame and safely jog the actuator until the compression plates contact the specimen or fixture without prematurely overloading the specimen and/or fixture. For this feature to work fast enough to prevent damage, the control electronics should check the load limit at 40kHz and not rely on the PC. Once the specimen is loaded, the switch should be able to be turned off at the frame or be automatically turned-off at the start of a test. 7.0 Installation, Support and Warranty 7.1 In your bid response please quote FOB loading dock, Albany Research Center, Albany, OR. 7.2 The Albany Research Center will be responsible for uncrating the system, moving the system into its lab and providing the proper utilities. 7.3 Once the system is moved into the lab, the system shall be installed and calibrated on-site by the vendor?s factory trained service engineer. Installation will include set-up of the interconnections between the PC, frame, and controller. Calibration will include on-site verification of one load cell and one extensometer. Once the system is installed and calibrated, the vendor?s factory trained service engineer will perform on-site training of up to 2 Albany Research Center personnel. 7.4 The frame, electronics and software provided shall be a standard product, designed for materials testing and installed in over 10 labs. The vendor must be prepared to describe its past history of adding new software features, regular bug fixes, backward compatibility of software, support of new Windows operating systems, and new PC architectures. Custom software written to meet the above specifications is not acceptable. 7.5 All items supplied by vendor shall carry a one-year warranty against defects in material and workmanship. END OF SPECIFICATIONS. EVALUATION: The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers in order or precedence: Technical compliance with the specifications and salient features described above of this RFQ and cost. The award shall be made using FAR 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures. All bids, proposals, or quotations must be faxed to Mr. Robert L. Mohn ? FAX 412-386-5770 by 5:00 PM Eastern Time, July 23, 2004. NO PHONE CALLS. The Technical Representative for the above requirement is Mr. Arthur Petty Jr. ? Phone 541-967-5878
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