The Mechanics of Materials Laboratory, which was founded in 1975, will be upgraded and expanded. The laboratory consists of an MTS axial/torsion servohydraulic mechanical testing system with computer control. The upgrading is for the high-temperature (up to 1000 degrees C) biaxial testing capability and relates to electronics, calibration of biaxial extensometers, and gripping of specimens. The addition of a pressurization system is necessary to perform discriminating tests in support of work on the structure of the evolution law of the kinematic stress tensor in infinite, time-independent plasticity.
