Mechanical characterisation of fusion materials by indentation test

FIMEC is an indentation test, which permits the evaluation of yield and ultimate tensile stress and to draw indication about the ductile to brittle transition temperature. The apparatus has been recently implemented with a feedback system to maintain strictly constant the penetration speed of cylindrical punch during the test. So, experiments performed on several materials, as those for first wall and blanket, show that the scattering between data from FIMEC and from standard tensile test is reduced within the range ±0.06, i.e. it is comparable with the scattering obtained in different tensile tests on the same material. A numerical simulation has been carried out to understand the basic mechanism of the process.