The University of Bremen, Germany, ordered a Gleeble physical simulation system for graduate studies and cooperative research programs with industry. It will be used to examine the behavior of bearing steels and case hardening steels during forming, cutting and heat treatment. The Gleeble 3500 is capable of heating specimens at 10,000¿C/sec., exerting 10 tons maximum force and working specimens at 1000 mm/sec. maximum stroke rate. The system has a lightweight hot zone L-strain extensometer with high sensitivity, as well as new grips and jaws designed to minimize lateral loads during tensile studies.