Effect of underlying assumptions to the publication and display of creep data

Traditionally the creep response to transient stresses is assumed to follow the strain hardening rule. This assumption has been shown to be false by Halden creep experiments IFA-585, IFA-699 and IFA-741. In this paper we demonstrate how the strain hardening rule still affects the way the experimental data is displayed and what data is disseminated. Points of interest are the initial state of the cladding at the beginning of the experiment and especially the way the interruptions during the experiments are handled. We also show how some of the experimental anomalies can be understood with the creep model developed from IFA-699 results at VTT.