High Temperature Mechanical Testing of Metals

Abstract

Performing mechanical tests at high temperatures is a nontrivial issue: Compared to room temperature testing, additional phenomena like time-dependent deformation processes and oxidation effects raise the complexity of the material’s response, while more sophisticated test setups and additional control parameters increase the number of potential sources of error. To a large extent, these complications can be overcome by carefully following all recommendations given in the respective high temperature testing standards, but more comprehensive background information helps to identify points of specific importance in particular test campaigns. In this chapter, an overview is given on general high temperature testing issues like the appropriate choice of experimental equipment and key aspects of temperature measurement. In subsequent sections, the major static and dynamic high temperature test methods are reviewed and their special features, as compared to testing at room temperature, are highlighted based on example data sets. Influences of specimen size and environmental effects are shortly outlined in a concluding section. In the whole chapter, a focus is set on testing of “classical” metallic high temperature materials, but many considerations are equally valid for testing of intermetallics, composites, and high temperature ceramics.