APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MATERIAL TESTING

According to an embodiment of the present invention there is provided a material testing apparatus (100), comprising: guide means (110); sample holding means (120) for holding a sample (130); force means (140) comprising a first actuator (210) for applying a releasable force to the sample (130); a crosshead (150) supported on the guide means (110) and arranged to support at least a portion of one or both of the sample holding means (120) and the force means (140); an energy store (220) arranged to store regenerative energy from at least the first actuator (210); an energy consumer (230) arranged to, at least in part, consume energy from the energy store (220), wherein the energy consumer (230) comprises the first actuator (210); and a controller (170) configured to control the first actuator (210) to release the force applied to the sample (130), wherein the first actuator (210) is arranged to output the regenerative energy in dependence on the release of the force.