MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of Compact Mechanical Testing System for Structural, Archaeological, and High-Temperature Materials

该主要研究仪器（MRI）奖支持购买机械测试仪器，以使塔尔萨大学及其合作者能够进行新的研究和培训工作。这款定制的PsylotechµTS仪器是一款独特且功能强大的先进机械测试平台。它可以提供超过350磅的动力，但重量只有11磅，可以放入电子显微镜中。此外，它每秒可以提供10多个机械加载和卸载循环，同时将样品加热到1600°C（热到足以熔化铁）。该仪器将促进塔尔萨大学的研究工作，并为俄克拉何马州的机械测试提供最高的温度能力。该仪器的实验将结合多个学科，使节能车辆和飞机的轻质金属的进步，高超音速飞行和空间系统的高温复合材料的改进，通过考古牙齿洞察人类进化和过去的气候，以及从石器工具的人类学痕迹中揭示史前人类行为。本科生将通过塔尔萨本科生研究挑战计划使用该仪器进行研究。此外，还有拓展计划，包括在吉尔克里斯博物馆、大学和公共图书馆、中小学举办讲座和示范活动，以及由塔尔萨地区STEM联盟主办的活动。该仪器将作为一个跨学科的资源来研究热和机械对各种材料的影响。例如，该仪器将有助于探测导致高温碳/碳（C/C）复合材料（包括在塔尔萨合成的具有血管/流体通道的C/C复合材料）分层和失效的横向微裂纹的起裂、扩展和聚并机制。此外，µTS仪器将能够在联合加热和机械载荷下进行现场观察，以研究Tulsa开发的瞬态液相金属表面处理工艺等温凝固后的残余应力。该仪器还将加强合作，并通过高分辨率扫描电子显微镜数字图像相关（SEM-DIC）与µTS的高速率原位疲劳循环相结合，催化新的研究机会。此外，μ TS将有助于回答人类学和考古学的重要问题。该项目由主要仪器研究计划（MRI）、刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）和民用、机械和制造创新部门（CMMI）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a mechanical testing instrument to enable new research and training efforts at The University of Tulsa and its collaborators. This custom Psylotech µTS instrument is a unique and highly capable platform for advanced mechanical testing. It delivers more than 350 pounds of dynamic force, yet weighs only 11 pounds and fits inside an electron microscope. Additionally, it can deliver more than 10 mechanical loading and unloading cycles per second, while heating samples up to 1600°C (hot enough to melt iron). This instrument will catalyze research efforts at The University of Tulsa and provide the highest temperature capacity for mechanical testing in the state of Oklahoma. Experiments with the instrument will unite multiple disciplines, enabling advancements in lightweight metals for fuel-efficient vehicles and airplanes, improvements in high-temperature composites for hypersonic flight and space systems, insights into human evolution and past climates through archaeological teeth, and illumination of prehistoric human behaviors from anthropological traces in stone tools. Undergraduate students will be engaged with research using this instrument through the Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge program. There are also outreach plans involving lectures and demonstrations at the Gilcrease Museum, university and public libraries, primary and secondary schools, and events hosted by the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance.This instrument will serve as an interdisciplinary resource to investigate thermal and mechanical effects on a diverse range of materials. For example, the instrument will help probe the mechanisms of the initiation, propagation, and coalescence of transverse microcracks that lead to delamination and failure in high-temperature carbon/carbon (C/C) composites, including C/C composites synthesized at Tulsa with vascular/fluid channels. Additionally, the µTS instrument will enable in-situ observations under combined heating and mechanical loading to study residual stresses after isothermal solidification from a transient liquid phase metal surface treatment process that was developed at Tulsa. The instrument will also strengthen collaborations and catalyze new research opportunities through high-resolution scanning electron microscope digital image correlation (SEM-DIC) that couples with the high-rate in-situ fatigue cycling of the µTS. Furthermore, the µTS will help answer questions of anthropological and archaeological importance. This project is jointly funded by the Major Instrumentation Research Program (MRI), the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.