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

这一重大研究仪器(MRI)奖支持购买一台机械测试仪器，以支持塔尔萨大学及其合作者的新研究和培训工作。这款定制的Squlotech？TS仪器是用于高级机械测试的独特且功能强大的平台。它提供了超过350磅的动力，但重量只有11磅，适合放在电子显微镜下。此外，它可以提供每秒10次以上的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，并为俄克拉荷马州的机械测试提供最高温度能力。该仪器的实验将联合多个学科，使用于节油车辆和飞机的轻质金属取得进展，改进用于高超声速飞行和空间系统的高温复合材料，通过考古牙齿洞察人类进化和过去的气候，以及从石器中的人类学痕迹揭示史前人类行为。本科生将通过塔尔萨本科生研究挑战计划使用这一工具进行研究。也有外展计划，包括在Gilcrease博物馆、大学和公共图书馆、小学和中学的讲座和演示，以及塔尔萨地区STEM联盟举办的活动。该仪器将作为一个跨学科的资源，研究各种材料的热和机械效应。例如，该仪器将有助于探索导致高温碳/碳(C/C)复合材料分层和失效的横向微裂纹的萌生、扩展和融合机制，包括在塔尔萨合成的具有血管/流体通道的C/C复合材料。此外，在塔尔萨开发的瞬时液态金属表面处理工艺中，µTS仪器将能够在加热和机械载荷联合作用下进行现场观察，以研究等温凝固后的残余应力。该仪器还将通过高分辨率扫描电子显微镜数字图像相关(SEM-DIC)与µTS的高速现场疲劳循环相结合，加强合作并催生新的研究机会。此外，µTS还将帮助回答人类学和考古学上的重要问题。该项目由重大仪器研究计划(MRI)、既定的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)和土木工程、机械和制造创新部门(CMMI)共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.