The International Symposium "Fatigue under Thermal and Mechanical Loading", held at Petten (The Netherlands) on May 22-24, 1995, was jointly organized by the Institute for Advanced Materials of The Joint Research Centre, E. C. , and by the Societe Fran~se de Metallurgie et de Materiaux. The fast heating and cooling cycles experienced by many high temperature components cause thermally induced stresses, which often operate in combination with mechanical loads. The resulting thermal / mechanical fatigue cycle leads to material degradation mechanisms and failure modes typical of service cycles. The growing awareness that the synergism between the combined thermal and mechanical loads can not be reproduced by means of isothermal tests, has resulted in an increasing interest in thermal and thermo-mechanical fatigue testing. This trend has been reinforced by the constant pull by industry for more performant, yet safer high temperature systems, pushing the materials to the limit of their properties. Dedicated ASTM meetings in particular have set the scene for this area of research. The proceedings of the symposium organized by D. A. Spera and D. F. Mowbray in 1975 provided a reference book on thermal fatigue which reflects the knowledge and experimental capabilities of the mid-seventies.
