A simple and versatile machine for creep testing at low loads (6-300 N) and on miniaturized specimens: Application to a Mg-base alloy

N T B N Koundinya; Nandha Kumar E; Niraj Chawake; Rajesh Korla; Ravi Sankar Kottada

doi:10.1063/1.5040841

A simple and versatile machine for creep testing at low loads (6-300 N) and on miniaturized specimens: Application to a Mg-base alloy

Rev Sci Instrum. 2018 Oct;89(10):105102. doi: 10.1063/1.5040841.

Authors

N T B N Koundinya¹, Nandha Kumar E¹, Niraj Chawake¹, Rajesh Korla², Ravi Sankar Kottada¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, India.
² Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India.

PMID: 30399713
DOI: 10.1063/1.5040841

Abstract

High temperature creep testing at a very low load range (<10 N) on miniaturized specimens has always been a challenge due to inherent design limitation (such as significant preload) of the conventional creep testing machines. In the present study, the challenge was overcome by developing a simple and versatile horizontal creep testing machine to conduct creep tests in the loading range of ∼6-300 N in tension and in compression. The competence of the in-house-built horizontal creep machine was validated by conducting creep testing on dog-bone shaped sheet specimens of cast Mg-1Sn-1Ca (TX11) Mg-base alloy over a lower stress range of 1.6-5.9 MPa (equivalent load range of 6.4-18.1 N) at 450 °C and in the high stress range of 20-80 MPa (equivalent load range of 76-310 N) at 175 °C.