This project will purchase equipment to upgrade an existing uniaxial servo-hydraulic materials testing system at Clarkson Unversity. Digital control equipment specifically designed for servo-hydraulic materials testing systems will be purchased to replace aging analug controllers. Hydraulic collet grips and a speciman alignment fixture will also be purchased. This equpiment will enable the existing equipment to be used for tension-compression fatigue testing of metals, and will help to alleviate over-scheduling of Clarkson's axial-torsional testing machine. The primary use for this testing system will be to conduct cyclic tests on single crystals and vrious grain size polycrystals of high stacking fault energy metals such as nickel, in research to explore the effect of controllable microstructure on cyclic mechanical behavior. Examples of other uses will be : (1) to conduct fatigue testing of duplex stainless steel - a dual phase material exhibiting higher strength and corrosion resistance than conventional stainless steels, (2) to conduct controlled tests on geotechnical material such as sandy soils and clays and (3)to conduct tests on specimens coated with mechanically deposited ceramic powders to assess coating adhesion properties.
