Résumé
The long-term reliability of small electroplated bellows made of a thin Ni/Cu/Ni layered material is sought. The design criteria are related to their stiffness and airtightness as they are used to convert a (very) small pressure variation into a displacement in a high-precision pressure sensor. Yet, in the above-mentioned cases, the airtightness cannot be assessed easily. It is proposed to develop a special setup to directly test bellows in their ‘‘environment'' (i.e., they are welded onto A304L(N) stainless steel holders). Furthermore, as high-cycle fatigue behavior is sought, that is, at least 1–10 million cycles are necessary to obtain the endurance properties, up to 10 samples may be tested simultaneously to save time.