Evaluation of mechanical properties under a temperature gradient field

In the past, in order to obtain the stress-strain behaviour of a test piece under a temperature gradient field, first the uniaxial tensile test was ca rried out under some uniform temperature field, and then the stress-strain data were utilized for computer analysis using the finite element method. H owever, in this study, a simpler and more realistic testing machine for mea suring the mechanical properties under a temperature gradient field has bee n devised and employed. Stress-strain curves measured with this machine for a 0.105 mass% C carbon steel have shown good agreement with the curves cal culated from the thermal elastic-plastic analysis using stress-strain curve s obtained from hot tensile tests in uniform temperature fields. Also, the fracture strength obtained with the temperature gradient tensile test is a little lower than that of the conventional hot tensile test corresponding t o the average temperature of the two sides of the test piece. The fracture strength measured with the temperature gradient tensile test and a submerge d split tensile test agree well with each other.