Development of a New Measurement System for Tensile Testing

The aluminum alloy 6061-T6 is a material used for some part of experimental reactor for its interesting physical and mechanical proprieties. To respect the European rules on pressure equipments, a material must present some minimal characteristics for toughness and ductility. In this frame, a new measurement system for tensile testing was developed in the LISN laboratory of the CEA (French atomic commission), in order to characterize the local behavior of the material during a whole tensile testing. Indeed, with the conventional measurement system (typically an extensometer), the local behavior of the material can only be determinate during the stable step of the testing. So, usually the behavior of the material during the necking step of the step is unknown. This new measurement is based on the use of some laser micrometers which allow measuring the minimum diameter of the specimen and the curvature radius during the necking phase with a great precision. Thanks to the Bridgman formula, we can evaluate the local behavior of the material until the failure of the specimen. For example, the application of this new measurement system on tensile test allow to determine the behavior of the Mod.9Cr-1Mo until a strain of 130% while the conventional method can not determine the behavior up to 10% corresponding to the initiation of necking.