Smoke grenade canister integrity

Customised engineering example

A manufacturer of smoke grenades required a means of testing the cap pull-off strength. The particular challenge was to grip the smooth metal cylinder for up to 5 kN of pulling force.

An annular clamp would be needed with penetrating pins to hold the cannister, and in alignment with the applied load. A four-way grip was designed and manufactured by Mecmesin engineers, with pins penetrating the canister base. to provide a secure and symmetrical grip.  The rigid cap was pulled off with hooks applied to the two cap holes allowing the tensile tester to measure the peak force applied.