This paper gives a comparative study of methods used for evaluation of mechanical properties of materials using miniature and sub-size tensile test specimens. Aim of this paper is to establish the potential of miniature tensile tests which can be useful for life estimation of any in-service-equipment and for development of new materials. Both these applications intend to use very small amount of material for evaluation of the mechanical properties. Apart from various types of novel techniques developed worldwide, the evaluation of mechanical properties from a miniature tensile test has a greater advantage as it is a direct method of measurement of mechanical properties. The paper also discusses various challenges in fabrication of miniature tensile test specimens, testing methodologies and acceptance of the test results. A comparison with the test results from conventional size specimen has been done for establishing the suitability of the miniature test specimen. For establishing the geometrical design of the miniature test specimen and its behaviour over application of tensile load, the tests have been corroborated with a finite element based analysis.

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