Plane strain compression test

[3] Plane-strain compression testing is typically used for measuring mechanical properties and for exploring microstructure development in the course of thermomechanical treatment.

When the upper punch is pushed down during the material test, the specimen is extended to horizontal directions.

Friction between the tool and the specimen can be reduced by applying lubricants, such as graphite, MoS2, glass or PTFE(Teflon).

This change of thickness is then measured sequentially after each loading, and after some mathematics a stress-strain curve can be plotted.

When performing Watts-Ford tests, temperatures of the metal specimens will vary from 800 to 1100 °C and strain rates of (0.01- 10 s-1).