In Spring 2018, the Recovery Subteam began a campaign to tensile test every material known to mankind.*

March 9, 2018

The first test, occurring on March 9th, 2018, was primarily aimed at verifying the basic tensile properties of the materials used for the Hermes Webbing.

We followed FED-STD-191A, Method 4108. Some notes:

• The specification calls for a testing article of length 54 inches, but we cannot fit a sample of that size in the available Instron machine. Thus, we made samples of 39 inches (the maximum possible size before extension on our machine).
• If possible, the pulling clamp should move at 3.0 +- 1.0 inches per minute.

*i.e. tubular nylon and braided Kevlar.