Phoenix Designs and Manufactures High-Pressure, High-Temperature Test Chamber

We had to design a chamber that could test at up to 100bar, withstanding temperatures up to 1000°C.  The tests within the chamber had to be carried out within different corrosive gaseous environments.  There is also an option to add steam to the test environment to replicate the conditions an aircraft engine experiences in flight.

The system designed by Phoenix has to be able to work under strain control – meaning that access is required to the sample inside the chamber with all of the leads passing through the chamber walls. In addition to this, strain control had to be possible using either LVDTs specified for harsh environments, or be able to fit a “new” capacitive extensometer that the customer was developing at the time with another supplier.

There were also several considerations that needed to be included with the design of the chamber; alignment of the load train was critical for carrying out fatigue testing on small samples, and also required crack growth measurement using PD systems, meaning the chamber and loading train must be electrically isolated from the test frame.

Heating could only realistically be achieved using induction heating, due to the harsh environment and space available. The materials being tested are not always metallic and cylindrical (i.e. CT samples), therefore a susceptor had to be designed to heat the sample uniformly; this also had to withstand the pressures and temperatures and allow access to the sample for the instrumentation.

The gas environment must flow through the chamber during the test, this means you cannot simply fill the chamber and then pressurise it, you need to be able to measure and control the inlet and outlet flow of high-temperature, high-pressure gases.

The chamber was initially planned to fit into an existing frame, but with the complexity of project and the design of the chamber, we advised our customer that a dedicated Phoenix machine would be a more suitable option.

Our design had to balance the requirement to fit the samples and accessories within the chamber, but also keep the test area as small as possible, to stay within the relevant pressure vessel regulations.

The complete assembly had to be easy to use by the customer to fit and remove samples and set up tests. The rig would also be situated in an existing lab with a restricted ceiling height, this was also a design consideration for raising and lowering the chamber.

John Cross, General Manager at Phoenix Materials Testing, says: “We are incredibly proud of our high-pressure chamber and the work undertaken in developing a complete new in-house design of the test system, both mechanically and electronically.

“The Phoenix team has been working collaboratively with our suppliers for various control valves and parts to help us develop this new generation of chambers, capable of combining extremely high pressures and high temperature environments.

“We are proud of the challenges we have overcome so far, and we are excited to see what the phase of development, commissioning and testing will bring to this new design of machine.”