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

这个主要研究仪器（MRI）奖支持机械测试仪器的收购，使新的研究和培训工作在塔尔萨大学及其合作者。这款定制的Psylotech µTS仪器是一款独特且功能强大的平台，适用于先进的机械测试。它提供超过350磅的动态力，但重量只有11磅，适合在电子显微镜。此外，它可以每秒提供超过10个机械加载和卸载循环，同时将样品加热至1600°C（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的温度能力。使用该仪器的实验将联合多个学科，使轻质金属用于节能车辆和飞机的进步，改进用于高超音速飞行和空间系统的高温复合材料，通过考古牙齿了解人类进化和过去的气候，以及史前人类行为的照明石器工具中的人类学痕迹。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，还有一些外展计划，包括在吉尔克里斯博物馆、大学和公共图书馆、小学和中学举办讲座和演示，以及由塔尔萨地区STEM联盟主办的活动。该仪器将作为跨学科资源，用于研究各种材料的热效应和机械效应。例如，该仪器将有助于探测导致高温碳/碳（C/C）复合材料分层和失效的横向微裂纹的引发、传播和合并的机制，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，µTS仪器将能够在加热和机械载荷的组合下进行原位观察，以研究塔尔萨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，加强合作并促进新的研究机会。此外，µTS将有助于回答人类学和考古学重要性的问题。该项目由重大仪器研究计划（MRI）、激励竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）和土木、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.