Plastic Testing Equipment
Vicat softening temperature, VST, is the temperature at which a flat-tipped needle under a set load sinks into a thermoplastic specimen to the depth the standard defines while the bath heats at a constant rate. It marks the point where the material starts to soften, and it is measured to ASTM D1525 and ISO 306, with a separate method for pipes and fittings.
Vicat testing at NextGen runs on the NG-HDT HDT/Vicat testing machine. Several specimens are tested in one oil bath run, and the needle load, heating and penetration reading follow the preset method chosen on the touchscreen, so the endpoint does not depend on the operator. Heat deflection runs on the same frame. The machine is installed and calibrated on site, your team is trained on it, and support continues for its life.
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Vicat testing is one station of a plastics laboratory. NextGen equips the rest of it too, from tensile and flexural testing to impact, hardness and melt flow systems, and stays responsible for it after delivery.
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FAQs
The NG-HDT applies 10 N or 50 N, the two loads in ISO 306 and ASTM D1525, and the loads come with a Vicat weight set. The needle has a cross-section of 1.000 mm². Custom methods allow a user-defined load, heating rate and endpoint for internal procedures or customer specifications.
Request a quote to confirm the weight set for each station.
An LVDT displacement sensor reads needle penetration with a resolution of 0.001 mm and an accuracy better than 0.01 mm across a 15 mm range. Because the instrument detects the endpoint, the result does not depend on the operator watching a gauge. Data can be reviewed on the machine and exported over Ethernet.
Three on the NG-HDT300 and six on the NG-HDT600, in one oil bath run. The maximum Vicat specimen size is 50 x 16 x 6.5 mm. The needle load, the heating and the penetration reading follow the preset method chosen on the touchscreen, so every station in a run is tested under the same conditions.
The NG-HDT has a built-in calibration interface for quick checks against an external thermometer, a 3.2 mm temperature calibration hole and gauge blocks of 2 mm, 3 mm and 4 mm for the displacement check. The Vicat needle stays suspended when it is not in use, and separating pliers are included to remove specimens without damaging the needle. A quality certificate comes with the machine.
No. HDT and Vicat run on the same NG-HDT frame, and the method is chosen on the touchscreen. Every station comes with both the HDT loading nose and the Vicat needle, and each Vicat measuring station needs its own weight set. Having both on one platform lets a laboratory cover the common thermal checks without switching equipment.