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ECCC is a voluntary
grouping comprising, at present, of some 13 countries involving over 40
European organisations. More European countries and organisations can join
ECCC after signing a simple Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) to exchange information and data from their
projects.
ECCC was formed in 1991 to co-ordinate Europe-wide development of creep data
for high temperature plant. During the period 1992-1996 ECCC concentrated its
efforts, through the European Commission supported Concerted Action BE 5524
'Creep' on the coordination of projects and data dealing with rupture
strength data development for parent metals. This Concerted Action (CA)
resulted in the development and publication of the European guidelines on
harmonised data generation, exchange and assessment methods and in the
publication of approved data sheets on a scale that had not been possible
before. This project was followed by the European Commission supported Thematic
Network BET2-0509 'Weld Creep' (1997 - 2001). This Thematic Network (TN)
dealt with harmonisation of generation, exchange and analysis of creep
rupture data for welded materials. Following this success with basic creep
data harmonisation (such as rupture strength of various steels, weld strength
reduction factors etc.), the ECCC consortium identified the Advanced Creep
(2001 – 2005 -- further information on other pages) activity as the next
important requirement for the safe operation of high temperature plant
components and for input to European codes and standards bodies.
ECCC provides an
excellent platform for co-operation of European industry and research in the
harmonisation of data for materials operating in the creep regime. This data
is then provided to the European Standards bodies as agreed European data.
ECCC frequently produces guidelines for the generation, treatment and
assessment of large creep datasets for use by industry. Information days,
conferences and training courses are organised to disseminate information on
the work of ECCC.
Apart from work on these
European Commission supported projects, ECCC supports and organises long term
testing of new materials to fill in identified gaps in European data.
The composition of ECCC is made up of a large industrial
representation comprising alloy producers, plant manufacturers and end users,
and research organisations working on their behalf. The organisations
represent fossil and nuclear power generation, waste incineration, chemical
and refinery industry. ECCC has the strongest industrial base of any European
collaborative project with a proven track record for effective co-operation.
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