[en] The Temperature Buffer Test (TBT) is a joint project between SKB/ANDRA and supported by ENRESA (modeling) and DBE (instrumentation), which aims at improving the understanding and to model the thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of buffers made of swelling clay submitted to high temperatures (over 100 deg C) during the water saturation process. The test has been carried out in a KBS-3 deposition hole at Aspo HRL. It was installed during the spring of 2003. Two steel heaters (3 m long, 0.6 m diameter) and two buffer arrangements have been investigated: the lower heater was surrounded by rings of compacted Wyoming bentonite only, whereas the upper heater was surrounded by a composite barrier, with a sand shield between the heater and the bentonite. The test was dismantled and sampled during the winter of 2009/2010. This report presents the hydro-mechanical and chemical/mineralogical characterization program which was launched subsequent to the dismantling operation. The main goal has been to investigate if any significant differences could be observed between material from the field experiment and the reference material. The field samples were mainly taken from Ring 4 (located at the mid-section around the lower heater), in which the temperature in the innermost part reached 155 deg C. The following hydro-mechanical properties have been determined for the material (test technique within brackets): hydraulic conductivity (swelling pressure device), swelling pressure (swelling pressure device), unconfined compression strength (mechanical press), shear strength (triaxial cell) and retention properties (jar method). The following chemical/mineralogical properties (methods within brackets) were determined: anion analysis of water leachates (IC), chemical composition (ICP/AES+MS, EGA), cation exchange capacity (CEC, Cu-trien method) and exchangeable cations (exchange with NH4, ICPAES), mineralogical composition (XRD and FTIR), element distribution and microstructure (SEM and TEM), iron oxidation state (Moessbauer spectroscopy). The retention tests, the CEC-determinations, the chemical analyses by ICP, and the mineralogical analyses by XRD and FTIR were performed on bulk samples as well as on a Na-converted fine fraction (<0.5 μm). The latter fraction was subjected also to TEM analyses. The hydro-mechanical characterizations of the bentonite resulted in the following observations: i) compared to the reference material no large deviation was seen in the retention curves for the Na converted fine fraction of the material from the innermost positions, and for the bulk material from the same positions a marked deviation was observed for equilibrium with RH = 97%; ii) a reduction in swelling pressure was observed on re-saturated samples from the field experiment, especially on those from the innermost part. Measured hydraulic conductivity values were generally scattered, but displayed a tendency with increased values on re-saturated specimens drilled from the innermost part, and a similar tendency was also observed on ground and re-compacted specimens and specimens prepared from dried material; iii) the triaxial test performed on the one specimen from the inner part demonstrated a brittle behaviour involving high stiffness, high shear strength, and low strain at failure; and iv) the unconfined compression tests demonstrated a reduced strain at failure on all specimens from the field material, and also a reduced maximum deviator stress on the re-saturated specimens from the innermost position. The chemical/mineralogical characterization indicated that: i) sulfate was redistributed under the thermal and hydration gradients that were prevalent during the test. Anhydrite accumulated at some distance from the heater, whereas gypsum was dissolved in the peripheral parts of the buffer where water was supplied; ii) cristobalite was dissolved at the bentonite/heater contact; iii) calcite was dissolved in the warmest parts of the block; iv) exchangeable sodium was replaced by calcium in the warmest parts, probably as an effect of calcite dis solution, which must have affected the porewater composition; v) at the heater, the iron content of the bentonite had increased due to corrosion of the steel. The excess iron was readily extractable into a citrate-bicarbonate-dithionite solution, which suggests that iron was not incorporated into the smectite structure but existed mainly as free oxides/oxyhydroxides (after oxidation); vi) the distribution of non-exchangeable magnesium displayed a clear gradient with a distinct maximum at the heater, suggesting a transfer of magnesium along the thermal gradient; vii) the Mossbauer spectroscopy with a three component fit and the measurements with lower Doppler-velocity indicated that the amount of Fe²⁺ had increased slightly, but the five component fit didn't support this observation. Hence, the increase in the amount of iron observed with chemical analyses was probably too small to be detected reliably with Mossbauer spectroscopy