Creep and Stress Rupture Test Facilities for the High Temperature Reactor Materials Development Programme (Translation of KFA - IRW - IB -18/84)

In the Nuclear Research Centre (KFA) Jülich, four creep and stress rupture test laboratories have been installed for the determination of data for high temperature component design. The investigations are being carried out for the Project ''Prototype Plant for Nuclear Process Heat'' (PNP) in close cooperation with industrial partners, and a test capacity in excess of 1000 specimens is available. Test temperatures are generally in the range 800 - 950 °C with some testing at temperatures as low as 600 °C. Typical test durations reach 30 000 h to enable extrapolation of the data to 100 000 h. Single specimen and multispecimen machines are used, all of which are equipped with specimen retorts enabling the tests to be carried out in simulated service environments. Some of the single specimen rigs are being used for relaxation and stress change tests. The construction of the test laboratories, special measurement techniques employed (especially the gas supply and control systems), and a survey of the test programme are presented. The data collection and processing in a data bank are also described.