Since most cylinders contain hazardous substance, there are various cylinder tests that are done on these cylinders to make sure that these can be stored and used with minimal risks. These tests include hydrostatic test, tensile strength test and Charpy impact test and are carried out on a hydraulic cylinder test bench.
Although during the manufacturing period, important information such as type of cylinder, service pressure, serial number or registered code of manufacturer are posted or marked permanently on the cylinder. It may not be enough and cylinder tests should be implemented to find out if the cylinders can be used with less risk.
The hydrostatic test is one of the hydraulic cylinder tests that is used to check for the leaks on a pressure vessel. This should not be mistaken or confused with the hydrostatic body fat test which uses the basis of buoyancy to determine the person's body fat. The hydrostatic test performance determines the fluid pressure vessels. This test maintains the safety standards as well as the durability of a cylinder in a period of time. New manufactured pieces are subject to the hydrostatic test and are re-qualified at specific intervals through the proof pressure test. The proof pressure test is another type of hydrostatic test. Basically hydraulic cylinder tests assess a cylinder for flaws or leaks. This is important because cylinders can explode if these cannot contain the compressed gas.
Another common test is the tensile strength test. This measures at what stress level should a material break or deform permanently. Since tensile strength of a material is an intensive property it does not depend on the size of the material but on the preparation of the material and the temperature of the environment as well as the material.
Tensile strength together with the corrosion resistance and elastic modulus are important parameters of engineered materials which are commonly used in making mechanical devices and structures. This is specified for alloys, ceramics, composite materials, wood or plastics.
The third type of hydraulic cylinder test is the Charpy impact test. It is widely used in industry because it is easy to prepare and perform. Moreover, the addition can be easily obtained and is not too expensive. The disadvantage is that the results are not absolute but comparative.
The results carried out on the hydraulic cylinder test bench, comparative or otherwise are all important in assessing whether the air cylinders can be stored safely in a specific location. Therefore, these tests should not be overlooked or ignored. Keep in mind that the medical gas cylinders involved are holding compressed gasses which are extremely volatile and can cause an explosion once the gasses expand.