Special Testing Sheffield fastener and materials laboratory
Special TestingSheffield, South Yorkshire
Special Testing operates its Bacon Lane laboratory in Sheffield. Current UKAS 0046 issue 066 covers testing at this address only. Five groups below describe selected fastener, mechanical, metallurgical and material-specific corrosion methods. Force and temperature conditions stay attached to each method. The owner publishes customer enquiries, specimen preparation and witness testing arrangements.
Reviewed by Arc · About this review
Key facts
- Exact Sheffield laboratory
- Bacon Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S9 3NH, United Kingdom. The current UKAS register and issue 066 identify Special Testing and allocate testing to this address only. The owner places its laboratories in the Douglas Building at the original site.
- Current accreditation and bounded flexible scope
- Testing Laboratories 0046, ISO/IEC 17025:2017, issue 066 dated 10 March 2026. QP17 flexible scope allows similar products and other standards or customer methods only within existing measurement principles and accredited parametric boundaries. It is not unrestricted accreditation.
- External customer arrangements
- The owner describes external customers, dedicated fastener testing, specialist specimen machining, customer portal access, witness testing and selected premium service. Use the published telephone or enquiry form to agree the exact item, procedure, preparation, reporting and dates.
Testing capabilities
Finished-fastener proof load and tensile testing
External-thread fasteners have separate proof-load and tensile rows, including wedge loading, each with forces from 20 kN to 1500 kN. They list ASTM A370 Annex 3, ASTM F606/F606M, BS EN ISO 898-1 and BS EN ISO 3506-1. Nut proof loading separately lists ASTM A194/A194M, A962/A962M, F606/F606M, ISO 898-2 and ISO 3506-2, also from 20 kN to 1500 kN. Confirm material, thread, tooling and the requested procedure.
Tensile and stress rupture testing
Ambient tensile covers forces from 0.6 kN to 250 kN under BS 4A4-1-1, BS EN 2002-1, BS EN ISO 6892-1, ASTM E8/E8M and A370. Elevated tensile is separately ambient to 990°C with forces from 0.6 kN to 250 kN under EN 2002-2, ISO 6892-2 and ASTM E21. Stress rupture is separately ambient to 1000°C under the listed ISO 204, EN 2002-005 and ASTM E139 and E292 procedures. These do not form one combined thermal or force range.
Bend, hardness and impact testing
Bend uses BS EN ISO 7438. Hardness scope includes Brinell HBW10/1000 and HBW10/3000, Rockwell HRB and HRC, Vickers HV10 and HV30 and microhardness HV0.3, HV0.5 and HV1.0 under their listed ISO and ASTM methods. Izod uses BS 131 Part 1. Charpy V and U notches have a separate -196°C condition and a range from -120°C to ambient under ISO 148-1, ASTM E23, A370 and A923 Method B. Owner continuous-temperature advertising does not replace these conditions.
Metallurgical examination
Selected exact rows cover decarburisation, macroetch examination, volume-fraction counting, duplex intermetallic-phase examination, ferrite content using TP/1057 and a Fischer Ferritscope, grain size and inclusion content. Page 4 separately lists replica microstructures, sulphur prints and titanium alpha case under their specified standards or in-house methods. Match the material and technique to its row. Elemental chemistry remains separate.
Material-specific corrosion tests
Austenitic stainless steels have intergranular-attack methods ISO 3651-2 A, B and C and ASTM A262 A and E. Wrought nickel and chromium-bearing alloys separately use ASTM G28 A and B. Stainless steels use ASTM G48 A and B for crevice and pitting resistance. Duplex stainless steels use ASTM A923 Method C for detrimental intermetallic phases. Owner broader descriptions do not change these materials and procedures.
Equipment and published limits
| Specification | Published value | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Ambient tensile force condition | 0.6 kN to 250 kN | Exact ambient tensile row on page 2. This force range does not extend the separate fastener rows or establish a machine count. |
| Elevated tensile conditions | Ambient to 990°C, forces from 0.6 kN to 250 kN | Exact separate elevated tensile row on page 2. Owner advertising to 950°C is a differing facility description. The schedule’s conditions do not guarantee simultaneous maxima. |
| Stress rupture temperature condition | Ambient to 1000°C | Exact separate stress rupture row on page 2. No load or machine count is inferred from this temperature condition. |
| Charpy separate temperature conditions | -196°C, and separately -120°C to ambient | Exact V/U-notch row on page 2. The discrete -196°C condition is not joined to the separate range. Owner continuous wording requires method and conditioning confirmation. |
| Fastener method force conditions | 20 kN to 1500 kN in each stated proof-load or tensile row | External-thread proof load, wedge-inclusive tensile and nut proof load are distinct rows on pages 2 and 3, with different standards. The force range does not establish every thread geometry, tooling combination or simultaneous maximum. |
| Owner-described dedicated fastener equipment | 1500 kN tensile machine with Epsilon bolt extensometer | The current-served owner capabilities page describes dedicated fastener equipment for proof/yield stress and proof-load measurement. Confirm present tooling, thread, specimen and procedure. This advertising is separate from each UKAS method range and is not a numerical throughput claim. |
Access and contact
Use +44 114 244 1061 or the owner’s contact form for the Bacon Lane laboratory. The owner describes turning, milling and grinding specimens, customer order and certificate portal access, onsite or remote witness inspection and regional test-piece collection. Selected premium services require agreement. Mr L Burdett and liamburdett@specialsteelgroup.com are contact details in issue 066 dated 10 March 2026, without independent verification of a present role. Agree sample handling, the exact method and tooling, reporting and dates.
Facility contact
- Address
- Bacon Lane
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S9 3NH
United Kingdom - Telephone
- +44 114 244 1061
- Website
- Official test house website
Standards and accreditation
- UKAS 0046 and QP17 restrictions
- Current Testing Laboratories 0046, ISO/IEC 17025:2017, issue 066 dated 10 March 2026 covers the exact Bacon Lane address only. QP17 flexible scope remains within existing measurement principles and accredited parametric boundaries. Owner general UKAS or NADCAP descriptions do not establish every method or a separately verified approval.
- Separate mechanical and fastener procedures
- Use the exact standard family, material and method row for ambient or elevated tensile, stress rupture, hardness, bend, impact, external-thread fasteners or nuts. The schedule does not provide an edition for every listed standard. Confirm the applicable edition under QP17. A withdrawn stress rupture reference in the original schedule is not promoted as a current general method.
- Metallography and material-specific corrosion
- The guide preserves specific metallurgy techniques and exact corrosion materials and practices. Owner corrosion descriptions are checked against the current rows. Spark-OES and elemental analysis on pages 4 and 5, owner heat treatment and group facilities remain outside these five physical groups.
What to confirm with the facility
- Confirm the exact material, thread, tooling, specimen and method or edition within QP17. Separate fastener force rows do not establish a universal finished-fastener size or current availability of every fixture.
- Keep ambient and elevated tensile, stress rupture and the Charpy discrete condition and range separate. Owner temperature descriptions differ from the exact schedule. No combined range, apparatus count, numerical throughput or simultaneous maximum is inferred.
- Agree sample preparation, collection, witness inspection, reporting and selected premium arrangements. Owner service descriptions do not guarantee booking or delivery dates. The schedule contact is dated and historical news contacts are not transferred as current roles.
- Provide the project, material and specimen condition, dimensions or thread, requested procedure and edition, temperatures or loads, acceptance criteria, report requirements and dates. Agree preparation, delivery, access, programme and costs with the provider.
Before requesting a test
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Frequently asked questions
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Related testing facilities
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Further reading
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Sources and review
Reviewed by Arc on 1 October 2026 in Europe/London using eight fresh official owner and UKAS captures. Current Testing Laboratories 0046 and all five fully inspected pages of issue 066 dated 10 March 2026 identify Special Testing at Bacon Lane, Sheffield S9 3NH, with testing at this address only. Five selected physical groups cover finished fasteners, tensile and stress rupture, bend, hardness and impact, metallography and material-specific corrosion. Individual fastener forces from 20 kN to 1500 kN, tensile forces from 0.6 kN to 250 kN, elevated tensile from ambient to 990°C, stress rupture from ambient to 1000°C and the separate Charpy -196°C condition and -120°C-to-ambient range are retained. QP17 does not permit new measurement principles or extension beyond accredited parametric boundaries. Owner differing thermal descriptions are qualified. Current-served dedicated fastener machine and extensometer descriptions are retained, while historical geometry, other apparatus counts and numerical capacity advertising are omitted. The news item dated 21 September 2018 and its contacts remain historical. Current telephone and enquiry form, specimen machining, portal, witness testing and regional collection are supported descriptions to agree. Mr L Burdett and email remain dated to issue 066. Chemistry, heat treatment and parent facilities remain separate. Original bodies, headers, titles, absent owner canonical and date metadata, register template metadata, visible issue date, later PDF creation and modification timestamps, all five images and extraction and rendering provenance are preserved. Actual review and retrieval are separate from all original dates. Complete directory overrides clear inherited coordinates.
Arc publishes this directory entry and does not operate the test facility. Suggest a correction to Arc with a supporting source.
Current-served owner overview supports external customer testing, specialist specimen machining, selected premium service, witness testing and portal access. Blanket UKAS and NADCAP advertising does not establish every method or approval.
Owner identifies the original Bacon Lane Sheffield site and the Douglas Building laboratories. Historical founding and expansion dates do not establish a publication date or current numerical capacity.
Current-served contact identifies Special Testing at Bacon Lane, Sheffield S9 3NH, its telephone and enquiry form. Imported named contacts and email are not transferred.
Visible news date is 21 September 2018. Historical equipment dimensions and named contacts remain dated evidence only. Current scope is checked against issue 066 and present equipment against the owner capabilities page.
Search UKAS accredited organisations
Exact Testing Laboratories 0046 result identifies Special Testing at Bacon Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S9 3NH, with telephone and official website. Protected email is not inferred. Template dates do not date the organisation decision.
Current-served owner describes a dedicated 1500 kN fastener tensile machine and Epsilon bolt extensometer. Other apparatus counts and advertised thermal conditions are not transferred as exact UKAS scope. Chemistry, heat treatment and parent facilities remain separate.
Owner describes customer order and certificate portal, selected premium service, onsite or remote witness inspection, regional sample collection and specialist turning, milling and grinding. These need present agreement and are not booking or turnaround guarantees.
UKAS schedule 0046, Special Testing, issue 066
Issue 066 dated 10 March 2026 identifies the exact Sheffield laboratory and testing at this address only. All five complete pages were visually inspected. Five selected physical groups retain separate method limits and material restrictions. QP17 flexible scope cannot introduce new measurement principles or exceed existing parametric boundaries. Elemental chemistry remains separate. Mr L Burdett and email are dated schedule details.