Mechanical Testing and Corrosion Laboratory

Studying the in-service behaviour of materials and assemblies is one of Institut de Soudure's major specialist fields.

Missions

The Mechanical - Corrosion platform provides concrete solutions to companies who wish : 

To conduct "fit for use" tests and to determine the best materials to use;

To simulate a welding process and determine the residual stresses and distortion generated by welding;

To qualify a welding operating process with respect to corrosion;

To determine corrosion mechanisms by defect investigation of parts;

To evaluate the in-service behaviour of large dimension structures;

To determine the toughness or the fatigue endurance limits of assemblies or materials;

To determine the temperature resistance of an assembly by creep tests;

To determine the severity of defects detected in welded structures.

 

Means

Institut de Soudure regularly invests in order to develop its characterisation facilities. Currently, these include:

 

A gang of 8 fatigue testing machines whose capacity ranges from 10 to 1600 kN, within a temperature range of -150°C to 1000°C;

A gang of 5 creep testing machines, which can perform tests at up to 1000°C;

A 24-metre slab for multi-axis tests at up to 2500 kN;

Two computing stations running Sysweld digital welding simulation software;

Crackwise software for determining the severity of defects;

Dynamic and static measurement data acquisition units (for a total of 140 measurement channels);

20 bar repetitive pressurisation units;

An electrochemical measurement chain;

Reactors for corrosion testing at up to 300 bars and 400°C. 

 

LSND

Iscao

Corrosion resistance of low nickel content stainless steels