The Challenge

Resene Paints, New Zealand’s biggest manufacturer of paints and building supplies, needed a faster, more affordable way to test the strength and durability of the substrates, glues, and insulation products it offers. Traditionally, these stress tests were performed by external laboratories—a process that introduced long wait times, high costs, and fragmented data records. Each round of testing could take weeks, slowing the pace of research and development.

Stress testing applies controlled force—whether tensile, shear, or compressive—until a material yields or fractures. By capturing how and when failure occurs, engineers gain the hard data they need to refine formulations and validate quality. Resene wanted that capability in‑house, so they could iterate quickly on new products while grounding every decision in sound science.

T4tech’s Solution

T4tech partnered with Resene to design and build a fully automated stress‑testing rig that brings lab‑grade capabilities onto the factory floor. Handling the entire project end‑to‑end—from mechanical integration and electronics through firmware and data‑analysis software—T4tech delivered a turnkey system that:

• Applies precisely controlled loads using a motor‑driven actuator and precision load cells with instrumentation amplifiers.

• Measures micro‑level deformation via a laser displacement sensor.

• Captures high‑speed video and integrates an infra‑red camera for thermal profiling.

• Houses samples in a custom temperature‑controlled chamber, enabling tests at user‑defined hot and cold extremes.

• Logs every sensor reading in real time and auto‑generates stress–strain graphs and thermal plots for instant insight.

All this functionality is wrapped in an intuitive interface that lets technicians queue a test, walk away, and return to a complete, time‑synchronized data set—video frames, temperature maps, force curves, and more—ready for analysis.