ABSTRACT

Small specimen mechanical testing has primarily evolved out of the needs of the nuclear industry to develop and characterize materials of fission and fusion reactor systems. Apart from the numerous applications related to characterization of irradiated nuclear components/materials, it has far-reaching applications in areas ranging from residual life assessment of service-exposed components, alloy development programs, weld joints, failed components, and coatings to biomaterials and the electronic industry. In this chapter, a flavor of the various applications is presented to the readers.