Miniaturization of the tube bulging test.

The paper focuses on the miniaturization of the bulging test for material characterization of micro tubes. For the design of the experimental device, numerical simulations are conducted first. Even if no scale effect is taken into account in material modeling, numerical results give some information before designing the set-up and performing experimental works: level of pressure inside the tube, volume of fluid necessary to create such a level of pressure and bulge height to measure. The main results are a design of the experimental device and choices for its instrumentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]