[en] The main objective of the EU-project CRETE (Contract No.: FIS5-1999-00280) was to assess the capability and the reliability of innovative NDT-inspection techniques for the detection of material degradation, induced by thermal fatigue and neutron irradiation, of metastable austenitic and ferritic low-alloy steel. Several project partners tested aged or irradiated samples, using various techniques (acoustic, magnetic and thermoelectric). However, these indirect methods require a careful interpretation of the measured signal in terms of micro-structural evolutions due to ageing of the material. Therefore the material had to be characterized in its undamaged, as well as in its damaged state. The present report summarises only the material characterization of the fatigue specimens. It is issued simultaneously as an PSI Bericht and the CRETE work package 3 (WP3) report. Each partner according to their own specifications purchased three materials under investigation, namely AISI 347, AISI 321 and AISI 304L. After sending the material to PSI, all fatigue specimens were manufactured by the same Swiss company. Each partner was responsible for his fatigue tests which are documented in the report WP1, written by FANP. In order to characterize the material in its unfatigued as well as in its fatigued state and to consider microstructural changes related to fatigue damage the methods listed below were employed either by PSI or by INSA de Lyon: (1) Inductive Coupled Plasma Emission Photometry (ICP-OES) was applied to determine the chemical composition, (2) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for observing cracks, slip bands between grain and twin boundaries, - Ferromaster for measuring the magnetic permeability, (3) Physical Properties Measuring System (PPMS) for measuring magnetization characteristics, (4) Neutron- and advanced X-ray diffraction methods for the quantitative determination of martensite, - Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for the observation of crystalline defects, - Metallographic investigations to determine shape and size of grains and martensite. Based on results from former investigations, main attention was paid to the content of martensitic phase as an indicator for fatigue. Since most NDT-methods are considered as indirect methods for the detection of martensite, neutron diffraction was applied as a reference method for a quantitative determination of martensite. Differences between the three investigated metastable austenitic stainless steels concerning their microstructure and affinity for martensitic transformation were observed. After a short description of the measuring methods some representative results are presented and discussed in this report. Finally, some conclusions in respect to the application of NDT-methods are summarised. (author)