An experimental study on creep deformation of thin-walled tubes under pure bending

The creep deformation of pure bending (hold constant moment for a period of time) tests were conducted in this paper. Thin-walled tubes of 304 stainless steel were used in this investigation. The curvature-ovalization measurement apparatus, designed by Pan et al. (1998), was used for conducting the present experiments. It has been found that as soon as the creep deformation is started, the magnitudes of the tube curvature and ovalization of tube cross-section quickly increase. The magnitudes of the creep curvature and ovalization of tube cross-section increase fast with a higher hold moment than that with a lower one. Owing to the continuously increasing curvature during the creep deformation, the tube specimen buckles eventually.