A novel gripper for multiaxial mechanical testing of microtubes at elevated temperatures

The success of a microtube hydroforming (μTHF) process heavily depends on the material properties of microtubes, which can reveal the material response under multiaxial stress and influence the formability of hydroformed products. However, these material properties are not well understood because of the limited availability of material testing apparatus that would permit control of axial force and internal pressure simultaneously to mimic realistic μTHF loading. The main purpose of this study is to develop a set of grippers that can transfer required testing loads under fully coupled combinations of axial force and internal pressure. The grippers are designed so that they may be kept at the safe working temperature even when tests are carried out at higher temperatures. The grippers are also designed to fit in a load frame that is integrated in a scanning electron microscope for in situ material testing. The capabilities of the grippers are demonstrated by performing uniaxial and multiaxial material tests on SS304 microtubes with 1 mm outside diameter and 0.15 mm nominal tube wall thickness. The finite element simulations and experimental results show that the designed grippers can firmly hold the specimen and thus enable tensile, compression, torsion, and microtube bulge material tests to be accurately performed.