Abstract: Two different types of experimental techniques to perform non-isothermal, uniaxial and biaxial fatigue tests were described. A new miniaturised electrothermalmechanical test rig was presented and discussed. It enables testing of small specimens under complex thermomechanical loading conditions. In order to cope with the simulation of well defined biaxial proportional and non-proportional loadings with in-phase and out-of-phase superposition of thermal loads a cruciform biaxial fatigue testing machine has been developed. Special design features of both machines, and the specimens tested, as well as typical test results were discussed.

Key words: thermomechanical fatigue, biaxial loading, non-proportional loading