Development of high temperature tensile test machine

The tensile test is one of the most commonly used tests in attempting to establish the mechanical properties of a material. This test is completed by holding a speci-men of known cross sectional area rigidly between a fixed beam and a moving beam (the crosshead). The test then involves loading the specimen and increasing the load until the specimen fractures. Currently in the School of Engineering, a high temperature tensile testing machine is available. This machine consists of a 25kN column-type screw driven tensile testing machine with an electric furnace mounted on its base. The tensile test spec-imens are held within in furnace in specially manufactured grip holders which are attached to the machine cross head and machine base. There were many underlying issues which required addressing to ensure that the facility was suitable for research activity. These issues included:  Cycle times needed to be improved,  Data and test results need to be of the highest quality and accuracy,  Tensile test machine was required to be operational at high temperature,  Ease of test set-up in relation to specimen change over and removal from furnace. This project aimed to address the above issues so that the test rig would be more user friendly and could be used as a teaching aid for students as well as research projects. Similar equipment to this existing furnace can be purchased but at enormous cost. Hence, the current project added significant value to the stock of materials testing equipment at the School of Engineering at the University of Limerick.