This paper demonstrates two miniature fatigue test methods in response to the requirements of the fusion reactor wall materials development program. It is known that the fatigue strength evaluated by the axial loading test is independent of the specimen size, while that evaluated by the bend test or torsion test is dependent upon the size of specimen. The new type of gripping system for the axial, tension-tension, fatigue testing of TEM disk⁵-size specimens that has been developed is described in this paper. An alignment tool assists in gripping the miniature specimen. The miniature tension-tension fatigue test method seems to provide reliable S-N curves for SUS304 and SUS316L stainless steels.

An indentation method has also been developed to determine fatigue properties. A hard steel ball or ceramic ball was used for cyclically loading the specimen, and an S-N curve was subsequently obtained. The merit of this method is primarily simple handling. S-N curves obtained from four materials by this indentation method compared well with those obtained from the rotary bend fatigue test employing a standard-size specimen.