Servohydraulic Test Systems
Fourteen closed-loop, servohydraulic testing systems are available for monotonic, low cycle/high cycle fatigue testing, fatigue crack propagation and fracture studies. Either load, specimen gage length displacement, or stroke of the crosshead/ram can be prescribed to follow a desired function, at frequencies in the range of 0.0001-100 Hz, by means of closed-loop control. Dedicated computer control is available on most systems. Most systems routinely support testing at temperatures ranging from sub-zero to 1100°C, and equipment is available for tests with temperatures up to 1540°C. Two systems have combined axial-torsional actuators for multiaxial loading studies.
The laboratory routinely conducts tensile, cyclic stress-strain, low cycle and high cycle fatigue, plane strain fracture toughness (KIC), stable crack growth (JR-resistance curve), and fatigue crack growth tests over a wide range of temperatures on metallic and non-metallic materials.
MPCF specializes in experimental methods for studying high cycle fatigue, low cycle fatigue, thermomechanical fatigue, creep-fatigue, fretting fatigue, fracture toughness, as well as standard ASTM tests in tension, compression, bending, and axial-torsion. Specialized experiments such as thermomechanical process simulation are also commonly performed in the lab.