Introduction

With increasing emphasis on miniaturization, downsizing and in-situ measurement, a range of novel and innovative test methods are being developed to meet the demands of the materials and engineering industries. The physical and mechanical aspects of testing at this scale present significant measurement challenges. Systems and test pieces are on a similar scale to the microstructure and are small compared with conventional techniques. Local variations in surface properties, material behaviour and microstructure can significantly influence the measurements.

Topics

Presentations will cover different aspects of:

• Mechanical testing on miniaturized test pieces for generating lifetime and performance data relevant to power generation and high temperature materials development
• A novel scratch test method for developing the understanding of the wear mechanism in tool steels
• The characterization of electronic devices
• Composite interfacial properties and biomedical devices using photoelastic and thermoelastic techniques.
• Techniques for measuring local deformation, strain and crack tip processes based on in-situ digital image correlation in the SEM, NanoSIMS, (S)TEM, and Atom probe FIB tomography.