Collection and Evaluation of Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics Data According to the European High Temperature Materials Databank (Petten) Standard

Abstract

Well-organized material databanks present obvious advantages to material scientists as well as to designers. The capacity, efficiency, reliability, and acceptance of material databanks, among others, depend on the documentation of the data sources, the structure of the data, and the sophistication of the evaluation and assessment facilities. The European High Temperature Materials Databank (HTM-DB) of the Joint Research Centre (CEC-JRC) Petten is organized in such a way that an optimum data storage enabling rational data collection and evaluation is achieved. In the area of high-temperature materials testing, where the material behavior (for example, lifetime of components) is strongly affected by the loading conditions and control parameters, the HTM-DB relates to this by defining the appropriate terms and fields. In this sense, it contributes to the standardization of automated testing technology. In addition, the HTM-DB offers several well-defined standardized evaluation methods for the results of tensile, creep, relaxation, fatigue, creep-fatigue, creep crack, and fatigue crack growth testing at high temperatures. The results of these evaluation programs can be implemented for the design of components using finite element calculations or for material development tasks.