Plastometrex is set to commercially launch its PLX-AutoStage module in the fourth quarter of 2026, expanding the capabilities of its PLX-Benchtop platform with an automated workflow designed to improve the speed and efficiency of Profilometry-based Indentation Plastometry (PIP) testing.
The PLX-AutoStage has been developed as a modular add-on to the PLX-Benchtop system, enabling users to collect mechanical property data from precisely selected locations on test samples through a significantly more automated process. The enhancement is intended to streamline non-destructive material testing while reducing manual intervention.
Plastometrex's PLX product range is based on its proprietary Profilometry-based Indentation Plastometry (PIP) technology, which extracts stress-strain curves from indentation data using inverse finite element analysis. The office-friendly PLX-Benchtop system provides non-destructive testing results within minutes, and the addition of PLX-AutoStage is expected to further improve productivity by automating sample handling and test execution.
By integrating the PLX-AutoStage with the PLX-Benchtop, users can queue hundreds of tests simultaneously and run fully automated inspection programs without further operator involvement. The workflow allows users to capture a digital image of each sample, select the desired indentation locations, and allow the system to complete the inspection sequence independently.
The technology enables indentations to be placed within 150 microns of the selected location while supporting indentation spacing as close as 1.5 mm, allowing detailed mechanical property mapping across individual components.
“[This will] allow you to interrogate very small volumes very accurately,” Jimmy Campbell, Plastometrex CTO, told TCT. “How do you do that? You get your mechanical property data, typically, in one of two ways. Either a tensile test, which is quite slow and very difficult to automate, or you do a hardness test. You don’t get yield strength or ultimate tensile strength (UTS) from a hardness test; you get a proxy for how strong the material is. The PLX-AutoStage will allow you to streamline the workflow, give you yield strength and UTS across hundreds of different tests very accurately so you can get the properties from those areas that you really want.”
The company has already deployed multiple PLX-AutoStage modules at its headquarters and has begun accepting pre-orders from customers ahead of the commercial launch.
According to Plastometrex, the system is expected to support manufacturers requiring detailed mechanical property mapping across multiple test locations. One example includes additive manufacturing applications, where density cubes produced across different areas of a build envelope can be tested and compared within a short period to evaluate material consistency.
As the commercial launch approaches, Plastometrex plans to recommend the PLX-AutoStage as part of its standard PLX-Benchtop package.
“Of course, you can decide not to take it if you want,” Campbell said, “but it’s the standard package because the benefits of it for our users are time and cost savings, as well as being able to generate more data than they could previously.”
The company said the PLX-AutoStage was developed in direct response to customer feedback, with Campbell describing it as the most requested feature. Plastometrex positions the solution as a bridge between conventional tensile testing, which is often time-consuming and difficult to automate, and hardness testing, which offers faster results but only indirect indications of material strength.
By automating a significant portion of the inspection workflow, the company expects engineers to spend less time conducting tests and more time analysing results, ultimately increasing the volume of mechanical property data available for decision-making.
“I suspect we’re going to see an inflection point in the number of tests that people carry out,” Campbell said. “Suddenly, it will go from this manual process to ‘I can queue hundreds of tests and walk away.’ I think we’re going to see a bit of a spike and long may that continue.”
