Buying a granulator or shredder without testing your material on it first is a bit like buying a car without a test drive because you read the brochure. The specifications tell you what the machine is capable of. They do not tell you how your specific material, in your specific form, with your specific geometry, behaves on that machine. Those are different questions, and the answers matter.
Virtus Equipment runs material tests at our Fort Myers testing facility across the full range of our granulators, shredders, and combination systems. You send us your material. We run it on the equipment, record the test on video, collect and measure the output, and send you a confidential technical analysis with the results. You get to make your purchasing decision with real data, not estimates.
Here is what that process actually reveals, and why the investment in a test is almost always worth it.
What a Material Test Tells You That Specs Cannot
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Actual Output Particle Size
The screen size controls maximum particle size, but the actual size distribution of your regrind depends on your specific material’s cutting behavior. Some materials produce very consistent output. Others generate more fines or oversized pieces than expected. You find out before you commit.
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Real Throughput Rate
Published throughput numbers are based on representative materials. Your specific material, whether it is a hard engineering resin, a soft rubber compound, a thin film, or a thick-wall hollow part, may run faster or slower than the published range. The test gives you the real number for your application.
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Machine Configuration Requirements
The test often reveals whether a specific hopper style, rotor configuration, or screen size produces better results for your material. Features that may be optional in the catalog can become clearly necessary once you see how the material feeds. This is where the right machine gets specified, not from a price list.
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Problem Behaviors Before They Become Problems
Film that wraps. Material that bridges in the hopper. Parts that need pre-size reduction before the granulator can accept them. Dust generation that requires extraction planning. These show up in the test, not after installation.
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Whether One Machine Is Enough
For some applications, a pre-shredder and a downstream granulator is clearly the better answer than a single granulator pushed beyond its design range. The test is the clearest way to see this before making a purchase commitment.
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Video Documentation You Can Share
Every test is video recorded. You can show the output quality and throughput behavior to your engineering team, management, or customer before making a decision. This is especially valuable when justifying the purchase internally.
What Materials We Have Tested
Materials Tested at the Virtus Equipment Testing Facility
Not on this list? Bring it anyway. If it is a size reduction application, we will evaluate it. Our engineers work with unusual and challenging materials regularly.
How the Testing Process Works
Contact us with your application details
Tell us your material type, approximate volumes, part geometry, and the output size you are targeting. We will discuss which machine configurations make sense to test for your application.
Ship us a sample of your material
You send us a representative sample, ideally in the form and size it arrives at the granulator in your operation. The more representative the sample, the more useful the test data.
We run the material under production conditions
Our engineers run your material on the appropriate machine or machines at our facility. We measure throughput, collect output samples, and document what we observe about feeding behavior, output consistency, and any equipment configuration adjustments made during the run.
You receive a video and a confidential technical analysis
The test is video recorded so you can see the machine running your material. The written analysis covers throughput rate, output quality, recommended screen size, machine configuration recommendation, and any application-specific notes. Everything stays confidential.
Make your purchasing decision with real data
You know what the machine produces on your material before you commit. If the results suggest a different configuration, a different size, or a different approach, you know that before the purchase, not after installation.
See What Material Tests Look Like on Our YouTube Channels
Our YouTube channels include real material test footage from our facility so you can see how different materials perform on Virtus and ZERMA equipment before you contact us.
- SG 600 Tubing Purge Test
Plastic tubing purge material through the SG 600 combination unit - ZCS 600 Fence Posts
Rigid fence post profiles through the ZERMA ZCS combination system - ZERMA GSH Heavy Duty Granulator
Heavy duty granulator demonstration on plastic material - Full Virtus Test Video Library
Browse all Virtus Equipment material tests and machine demonstrations
See material similar to yours? Send us a sample and we will run your exact material and show you the results.
