The Twist Compression Tester ("TCT") is a hydraulically operated bench-top apparatus used to evaluate the level of friction and/or wear between two materials under lubricated or non-lubricated conditions.
The applied normal force and the torque are measured, and the coefficient of friction is calculated.
The Twist Compression Tester is an invaluable diagnostic tool for: evaluating lubricants, materials and coatings; screening products for production; understanding the effect of additives in a lubricant; and many other value-added testing scenarios.
[1] The Twist Compression Tester was developed by Professor John Schey formerly of the University of Waterloo, and is manufactured, according to his design, under exclusive license by the Industrial Research + Development Institute (Midland, Ontario, Canada).
Tribsys is also manufacturing a twist compression machine and other approaches have been used with the Falex MCTT MultiContactTriboTester in thrust-washer configurations.