Electromechanical Test Facility

• 200 kN universal (electromechanical) test machine with high-temperature (1800°C) furnace.
• Small universal test machine dedicated to room-temperature testing of flexure specimens and C-rings, as well as fracture toughness testing.

Standard mechanical property tests (using standard as well as specially designed test fixtures):

• Static fatigue (time to failure measured as a function of static stress)
• Dynamic fatigue (fracture stress measured as a function of loading rate)
• Cyclic fatigue (cycles to failure measured as a function of cyclic stress)
• Fast-fracture tensile and compressive strength
• Shear strength
• Fracture toughness
• Capability for compression creep tests with straight cylindrical specimens and contact extensometer (resolution, ~0.5 mm) and compressive creep rates (room temperature to 1800°C; stresses, as low as 0.05 MPa)
• Rotary bend fatigue machine equipped with small furnace for testing small (~ 75 mm long and ~ 10 mm in diameter) cylindrical specimens in fully reversed cyclic loading

Electromechanical Test Facilities
With Environmental Testing

• High-temperature clamshell furnace and ceramic retort, for both compression and flexure tests in air, inert gas, or vacuum at temperatures up to 1500°C.
• Environmental tensile test facility: vacuum chamber mounted on test machine (screw-driven), mechanical pump, diffusion pump, regenerative gettering furnace, and temperature controller. High-temperature static, tension-tension cyclic, or dynamic loading in vacuum or inert environments (Room temperature to 1600°C using button-head tensile specimen geometry)