Construction of a Creep Testing Machine for the Study of Creep Failure of Electric Wire

Abstract

Failure of overhead power lines usually occurs through conductor creep after several years of service. The best solution to investigate the creep behavior of the conductor in a very short time is to perform a creep test in the laboratory using a creep machine. In this present work, a fabricated horizontal creep testing machine was presented and tested by performing creep testing on electric aluminum wire used for the construction of overhead power lines. The different parts of this machine have been described. The main feature of this machine is the displacement acquisition system and the possibility of performing any test. The creep results obtained in this machine confirmed its good performance. The failure behavior of the aluminium wire was characterized by scanning electron microscopy.