ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, it was seen that the idea of using small specimens for mechanical testing had actually originated in the nuclear industry to cater to the irradiation material testing programs. Small or miniaturized specimens could be fit in the available space in nuclear reactors and also could be extracted from an irradiated component and handled with much reduced radiological hazard for examination. As a spin-off, this technology soon found applications in many other areas where conventional mechanical test techniques were practically difficult, such as in failure analysis, study of weld joints and coatings, assessment of residual life of power plant components, and in development of new alloys and exotic materials where limited volume of material is available.
