Computer use in the high-temperature mechanical/metallurgy testing laboratory

High speed digital computers have come into use in the high temperature metals testing laboratory. This paper presents some of the advantages and disadvantages of the use of computers for test control, data acquisition, and the graphing of test results. While tests have been run for years without the use of computers, the significant enhancements offered by the computer in accuracy, repeatability, user interaction, and management of large amounts of data make the use of computers almost mandatory when data from many tests by different laboratories are compared and evaluated. The particular case of the use of MTS hydraulic test frames with the DEC PDP-11/34 computer is treated here, under the assumption that other computer-based systems would display similar advantages and similar problems