Mechanical performance is an important basis for structural static strength design and integrity evaluation, and the core indicator to determine material failure and damage and reflect the safety level of equipment operation, which makes it necessary to conduct mechanical performance testing. However, traditional testing methods, such as tensile and impact testing, require destructive sampling and testing in the laboratory. Not only is destructive sampling unacceptable, but there are also issues with cumbersome testing procedures and long testing cycles, so they cannot be used for performance testing of in-service equipment or small structures, such as micro-areas of welded joints.

In response to this problem, Gurion developed a depth-sensing micro-indentation testing system. It consists of three parts: the indentation device, the control system, and the calculation software. It records the displacement-loading data caused by the indenter of a specific shape intruding into the material to calculate the yield strength, tensile strength, stress-strain curve, residual stress, hardness and other mechanical performance parameters of the material. It can not only test small non-uniform micro-areas, but is also suitable for the online test of engineering structures in complex on-site environments. Compared with traditional mechanical performance testing methods, (1) it is with higher efficiency and lower costs; (2) the testing device is light, small and portable; (3) the testing process will not cause damage to the equipment. The micro-indentation testing system can be used for non-destructive online testing of the mechanical performance of pressure vessels, pipelines, bridges, tracks and other engineering structures or welded joints.