Miniature Autoclave and Double Bellows Loading Device for Material Testing in Future Reactor Concept Conditions—Case Supercritical Water

Abstract

The presented work consists of a test setup study of a new pneumatic material testing device based on double bellows (DBs) loading device and with miniature autoclaves enabling applications at temperature and pressure up to 650 °C and 35 MPa, respectively. It has been demonstrated that it is technically feasible to carry out well defined and controlled material testing in the supercritical water (SCW) environment using this testing system. By using this type of system, it makes possible to investigate the intrinsic role of the applied stress on the deformation behavior of material in light water reactor (LWR) conditions and also in other harsh environments like SCW conditions. In addition, the compactness and versatility of the setup makes this system particularly attractive for deployment in a hot-cell for testing of irradiated materials.