Controlled atmosphere tensile test furnace for hot cell operation

A high-temperature controlled atmosphere tensile test chamber was built and installed at the Westinghouse Research and Development Center's Metallurgical Hot Laboratory. It is presently being used for testing miniature tensile specimens of highly irradiated fast reactor candidate cladding and duct alloys with gauge section dimensions of 0.762 x 1.524 x 20.32-mm-long gauge section dimensions. The capabilities of the system, as presently utilized include 8050C maximum test temperatures and 10-6 Torr vacuum pumpdown before flooding with an ultra pure (99.999%) helium cover gas during testing and specimen cooldown. The cover gas is used to reduce fracture surface oxidation. Under these conditions, the system is capable of testing from four to five specimens during an 8-h shift. The system is installed in a mechanical testing hot cell and is operated through a lead-glass shielding window with a pair of master-slave manipulators. The helium gas supply, furnace, and vacuum system controls, cooling water chiller, and Instron control panels are located outside the cell. The remaining components are attached directly to the Instron load frame structure