Small Punch Creep Test · EN 10371
SPC 800
Creep and creep rupture up to 800 °C, from a disc eight millimetres across.
The test piece is held under a constant force at temperature, in argon, until it ruptures, and its deflection is recorded over time. You get the small punch creep curve, the minimum deflection rate and the time to rupture, and through the EN 10371 conversion an equivalent uniaxial stress. Up to 800 °C the machine covers austenitic steels and the lower range of nickel alloys, besides the ferritic and 9–12 % Cr steels.
800 °C
maximum test temperature
1000 N
constant force, direct loading
Ø8 × 0.5 mm
test piece, or Ø3 × 0.25 mm
∞
test duration, no limit
The result
What one test gives you
One curve, recorded from loading to rupture. Everything the evaluation in EN 10371 needs is read from it.
- Small punch creep curve
- Deflection against time, recorded for the whole test. Recording is driven by punch tip displacement, not only by time.
- Minimum deflection rate
- The slope of secondary creep, and the deflection at which it occurs, umin.
- SPC time to rupture, tr
- The point the test runs to, unattended, however long it takes.
- Equivalent uniaxial stress
- σ = F / Ψ, with Ψ = 1.916 · umin0.6579 for the Ø8 × 0.5 mm test piece (EN 10371, informative annex). That puts the result next to uniaxial creep data at equal times to rupture.
Fully automatic
How a test runs
You put the test piece in, set the temperature and the force, and press Start. The rest runs on its own, through rupture and back to room temperature.
You
- 1Insert the test piece into the cartridge and the cartridge onto the test rod.
- 2Fit the protective tube.
- 3Set the test temperature and the force. Press Start.
The machine
- 4Purges the chamber with argon, then keeps a slow, regulated flow.
- 5Applies the preload and heats, controlled on the surface of the test piece, without overshooting the target.
- 6Holds until the punch displacement signal is stable, then applies the force smoothly over 15–60 s.
- 7Records the test through tertiary creep to rupture.
- 8Cools down in a controlled way and signals the end at 50 °C. The data go out as XLS, or as XML in the format developed with the JRC.
Repeatability
Three test pieces, one curve
ZR 154 at 600 °C with the Ø2.5 mm ball, at two force levels. The curves lie on top of each other through all three stages of creep, not only at rupture.
450 N · 3 tests
≈ 20 h
time to rupture, all three within half an hour
520 N · 3 tests
≈ 8 h
time to rupture
Common to the whole SPC line
Why the results repeat
In small punch testing the machine itself can move the result by tens or even hundreds of percent, and interlaboratory tests have shown it repeatedly. These are the details that keep it out of the result. They are the same on SPC 650, 800, 1000 and 1200.
Temperature on the test piece
A thermocouple rests on the test piece with a 5 N contact force. It is the material that is held at ±0.2 °C, not the air in the furnace.
Load applied without shock
An electrically controlled lift applies the force over 15–60 s, as EN 10371 asks. It matters: on Nimonic 75, loading in 3 s gave a time to rupture about four times shorter.
Force without friction
Direct loading with a creep-resistant load cell. No lever, no friction: the force on the test piece is the one you set, for the whole test.
Argon, sealed and checked
A gas-tight chamber, helium-tested to 1×10⁻⁹ Pa·m³·s⁻¹, with the bellows stiffness compensated. No oxidation of the test piece.
Geometry that stays exact
Punch, dies and balls in Si₃N₄, the cartridge in nickel steel, to the dimensions of EN 10371.
A power cut is not the end
The UPS holds the machine for at least 10 minutes, long enough to switch to the laboratory back-up supply.
Everything recorded
Temperature, force, punch tip displacement, deflection rate, argon flow, furnace thermocouples and the UPS, up to 1 kHz.
Checked against reference material
Reference test pieces come with the machine. Our own checks allow a deviation of up to ±3 %. Suitable for quality systems to ISO 9001:2015.
Track record
Rooted in the work behind the standard
The creep evaluation in EN 10371 was benchmarked in a round robin co-authored by Daniel Omacht. The machines go back to his proposals for the code of practice the standard grew out of.
Mater. Sci. Eng. A 731 (2018)
Creep strength and minimum strain rate estimation from Small Punch Creep tests
The ECISS/TC 101 WG1 round robin on P92, F92 and 316L: three force-to-stress conversions compared against uniaxial creep at equal times to rupture, to settle the practice in the standard.
Holmström, Li, Dymáček … Omacht … (18 authors) · doi 10.1016/j.msea.2018.06.005
Key Eng. Mater. 734 (2017)
Development of Testing Machines and Equipment for Small Punch Testing, Proposals for Improvement of CWA 15627
Proposals for the CEN code of practice that became EN 10371, together with the machines that preceded today's SPC line.
Omacht, Kubanek, Dolezal · doi 10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.734.237
ECCC 2026 · paper P008
Design, Development, and Ongoing Experimental Verification of the SPC 1300 DLS System for Very-High-Temperature Creep Testing of Miniature Specimens in Accordance with EN 10371
The highest temperature class after twelve months of verification at UTMdev, now at the Institute of Physics of Materials: ±0.1 °C on the test piece over 62 h at 600 °C, with a type R thermocouple in direct contact.
Omacht (UTMdev), Dymáček, Jarý (IPM CAS), Paradowski (Warsaw Univ. of Technology) · 18–20 May 2026
Configuration
Two choices when you order
Loading and cartridge are chosen per machine. The cartridge can also be added later.
1 · Loading
Direct (DLS)
Frictionless, creep-resistant load cell.
up to 1000 N
Lever
Defined preload; matches the comparative data many laboratories already hold.
up to 500 N
2 · Cartridge
Small Punch
Ø2.5 mm ball, Ø4 mm die bore. The geometry the EN 10371 conversion is given for.
Ø8 × 0.5 mm
Mini Small Punch
Ø1 mm ball, Ø1.75 mm die bore. For TEM discs and irradiated material.
Ø3 × 0.25 mm
The SPC line
Compare the four machines
The platform is the same. The temperature class decides what is inside, and so which materials each machine can take.
| SPC 650 | SPC 800 this machine | SPC 1000 | SPC 1200 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum test temperature | 650 °C | 800 °C | 1000 °C, from room temperature | 1200 °C |
| Constant force, direct loading | 1000 N | 1000 N | 4000 N | 5000 N |
| Lever loading | 500 N | 500 N | 500 N | 500 N |
| Tests | Small punch creep | Small punch creep | Small punch creep; small punch tensile and fracture | Small punch creep |
| Materials | Low-alloy ferritic and 9–12 % Cr steels: 13CrMo4-5, 10CrMo9-10, P22/T22, P91/T91, P92/T92, E911, VM12; weld metal and HAZ | Adds austenitics and the lower nickel range: TP347H, TP347HFG, Super304H, HR3C, Sanicro 25, Alloy 617, Haynes 230 | Adds additive (LPBF / DED), coated and irradiated materials, TEM discs | Adds nickel superalloys and blade alloys: Alloy 740H, Nimonic, Inconel, directionally solidified and single-crystal, ODS |
| Status | Available | Available | Available | Functional testing; target values, project to 12/2026 |
The cold end of the same method: TTS 190, −193 to +20 °C, for the small punch transition temperature.
Technical parameters
The parameters apply to direct frictionless loading (DLS). With the lever version the load range is up to 500 N.
- Test temperature range
- up to 800 °C
- Temperature accuracy
- ±0.2 °C, resolution 0.1 °C
- Load range
- up to 1000 N, ±0.1 % F.S.
- Loading rate
- 0.001–1 mm/min
- Direct loading travel
- ±30 mm
- Punch tip displacement accuracy
- ±0.001 mm
- Argon flow
- 0–30 ml/min, accuracy ±1 % F.S.
- Chamber tightness
- helium test, 1×10⁻⁹ Pa·m³·s⁻¹
- Test duration
- unlimited
- Data sampling
- up to 1 kHz, recording driven by punch displacement
- Standards
- EN 10371 · EN ISO 204 · ASTM E139 · ASTM E292
What is included
The delivery is complete — it contains everything needed to master the method, even if the operator has no previous experience with it.
Complete system
Machine, accessories and spare parts. Nothing has to be bought on top to get the method running.
Reference test pieces
Part of the delivery — check on them at any time that the machine measures as it should.
Operator training
A two-day course in your laboratory, on your machine and your test pieces.
Cartridges and ceramics
Nickel-steel cartridge, dies, punch and Si₃N₄ balls in the precise geometry of EN 10371.
Dimensions and site requirements
- Machine dimensions
- 780 × 780 × 2040 mm
- With the test table
- 1800 × 1000 × 2040 mm
- Power supply
- 1 NPE 230 V AC 50–60 Hz, TN-S, 16 A
- Surge protection
- EN 61643-11, SPD type 1 and type 2
- Argon
- 5.0 (min. 99.999 %), pressure 50 kPa
- Gas connection
- Parker A-LOK, metric T 6MO-3
- Environment
- air conditioning 23 ± 2 °C
- Supply line
- fixed, with room ventilation
- Weight
- 130 kg / 185 kg with the table
Tell us what you need to measure
Material, service temperatures, load range. We will advise whether SPC 800 is enough or whether SPC 1200 is worth it — and come back with a price and a lead time.
Product leaflet
A leaflet with more information about the product. This is only available upon request.
Request the SPC 800 leaflet