Development of a tensile test system for irradiated specimens by robot operation

Abstract A robot manipulating system for miniaturized tensile tests was developed to reduce the hazards of radiation during the handling of highly radioactive specimens and to maintain precision of testing results independent of an experimenter's skill. The present robot system is designed to accommodate a miniaturized tensile specimen whose gauge section is 5.5 mm × 1.2 mm, total length and width are 12.5 mm and 2.3 mm, respectively, and thickness is around 0.2 mm. The system is composed of a vibrational-type specimen feeder, a specimen tray, a manipulating robot, a simulated tensile testing fixture, a CCD camera for specimen observation and a microcomputer for controlling the system. This system performs specimen arrangement in the specimen tray, specimen transportation and loading to the test fixture and testing and removal of the broken specimen from the fixture. All of these procedures are performed quickly, safely and with uniform testing precision by computer control from a remote place by an unskilled experimenter.