High-Temperature High-Pressure Environment

An electromechanical loading device can be integrated with a pressure vessel. Applications are related to the power generation construction material and off-shore environment SCC and CF studies.

The operation temperature can vary from about -30°C to 650°C depending on the application. The low-temperature environment is related to the hydrogen operation. Many instruments have been built for nuclear BWR and PWR subcritical water operation environments. The highest operation temperatures are related to supercritical water applications.

Surprisingly many material research methods such as Electrochemical tools, DCPD for the crack growth rate monitoring and LVDT sensors for the strain measurement can be used in the HT HP environment. The operation environment affects strongly the construction material: we use commonly stainless steel AISI 316 in a water environment whereas chlorides, sulfates, extreme pH values and H2S force us to use nickel alloys such as Alloy C-276 (Hastelloy). Titanium is used in strong chloride solutions.