Creep Testing Machine

A creep testing machine holds a material or component under a constant load at an elevated temperature for an extended period so engineers can measure creep, the slow, gradual deformation that some materials undergo under sustained stress even when that stress is well below the level that would cause immediate failure. Creep testing typically measures the minimum, or secondary-stage, creep rate a material reaches once its initial rapid deformation slows and before it accelerates again toward failure, data engineers use to predict how long a metal, polymer, concrete or timber component can safely serve under sustained load and heat, such as in turbine blades or high temperature piping. The source consulted for this entry describes creep testing as a procedure but gives no history, invention date or named inventor for the testing equipment itself, so none is recorded here.