Acquisition of a Mechanical Properties Microprobe

这种超低载荷压痕仪器将为各种材料提供高空间分辨率、超低载荷压痕的出色能力，并将显著增强和扩展现有NSF赞助的研究，旨在了解和改善先进材料和材料系统的机械和物理性能。在大量的大学研究活动中，迫切需要这种能力，这些研究活动涉及通过各种先进技术合成的各种材料。这些活动的共性，相对于拟议的仪器采购，是研究中的材料要么涉及极小的微观结构规模或合成的小批量或小批量尺寸（如薄膜，微层压和涂层），严重限制了使用传统的实验方法的合成/结构/性能关系的研究。例子包括，韧性相韧化的金属/氧化物微层压材料产生的离子束沉积，金属间化合物和难熔金属的膜软化效应和低能量离子束辅助沉积的作用，氮化碳的合成和性能。其他的研究包括对聚合物的机械行为和协同分子弛豫之间的关系的研究，对有序聚合物的机械性能和微观结构的基础研究，以及对陶瓷基复合材料疲劳过程中损伤累积过程的影响的研究。

This ultra-low load indentation instrument will provide excellent capability for highly spatially resolved, ultralow load indentation on a wide variety of materials, and will enable a significant enhancement and extension of existing NSF-sponsored research aimed at understanding and improving the mechanical and physical properties of advanced materials and materials systems. There is immediate need for this capability in a large number of university research activities that span a wide spectrum of materials that are synthesized by a variety of advanced techniques. The commonality of these activities, with respect to the proposed instrumentation acquisition, is that the materials under study either involve extremely small microstructural scale or are synthesized in small quantities or with small bulk dimensions (e.g. thin films, microlaminates and coatings) that severely limit the use of conventional experimental methods for the study of synthesis/structure/property relationships. Examples include, ductile phase toughening in metal/oxide microlaminates produced by ion beam deposition, film softening effects in intermetallics and refractory metals and the role of low energy ion beam assisted deposition on the synthesis and properties of carbon nitride. Other studies involve examination of the relationships between mechanical behavior and cooperative molecular relaxations in polymers to fundamental studies of mechanical properties and microstructure in ordered polymers and an investigation of the influence of damage accumulation processes during fatigue of ceramic matrix composites.