Nanomechanical Testing Journal Club
We regularly come across interesting and informative materials research articles. Members of our Nanomechanical Testing Journal Club receive brief reviews of select papers and direct links to the full article. Our Journal Club is meant to be a helpful tool that keeps you up-to-date on the newest in Nanomechanical Testing research and to assist you in discovering articles you may have missed.
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Highly Ductile Amorphous Oxide at Room Temperature and High Strain Rate
Oxide glasses are an integral part of the modern world, but their usefulness can be limited by their characteristic brittleness at room temperature. We show that amorphous aluminum oxide can permanently deform without fracture at room temperature and high strain rate by a viscous creep mechanism. These thin-films can reach flow stress at room temperature and can flow plastically up to a total elongation of 100%, provided that the material is dense and free of geometrical flaws. Our study demonstrates a much higher ductility for an amorphous oxide at low temperature than previous observations. This discovery may facilitate the realization of damage-tolerant glass materials that contribute in new ways, with the potential to improve the mechanical resistance and reliability of applications such as electronic devices and batteries.
Erkka j . Frankberg珍妮Kalikka,弗朗西斯科Garcia Ferré, Lucile Joly-Pottuz, Turkka Salminen, Jouko Hintikka, Mikko Hokka, Siddardha Koneti, Thierry Douillard, Bérangère Le Saint, Patrice Kreiml, Megan J. Cordill, Thierry Epicier, Douglas Stauffer, Matteo Vanazzi, Lucian Roiban, Jaakko Akola, Fabio Di Fonzo, Erkki Levänen, Karine Masenelli-Varlot
Science, 2019, 366 (6467), 864-69
DOI: 10.10.1126/science.aav1254
High-Throughput Nanoindentation for Statistical and Spatial Property Determination
Standard nanoindentation tests are “high throughput” compared to nearly all other mechanical tests, such as tension or compression. However, the typical rates of tens of tests per hour can be significantly improved. These higher testing rates enable otherwise impractical studies requiring several thousands of indents, such as high-resolution property mapping and detailed statistical studies. However, care must be taken to avoid systematic errors in the measurement, including choosing of the indentation depth/spacing to avoid overlap of plastic zones, pileup, and influence of neighboring microstructural features in the material being tested. Furthermore, since fast loading rates are required, the strain rate sensitivity must also be considered. A review of these effects is given, with the emphasis placed on making complimentary standard nanoindentation measurements to address these issues. Experimental applications of the technique, including mapping of welds, microstructures, and composites with varying length scales, along with studying the effect of surface roughness on nominally homogeneous specimens, will be presented.
Eric Hintsala, Ude Hangen, Douglas D. Stauffer
Journal of Materials, 2018, 70 (4), 494-503
DOI: 10.1007/s11837-018-2752-0
Bioinspired Nacre-like Alumina with a Bulk-metallic Glass-forming Alloy as a Compliant Phase
Bioinspired ceramics with micron-scale ceramic “bricks” bonded by a metallic “mortar” are projected to result in higher strength and toughness ceramics, but their processing is challenging as metals do not typically wet ceramics. To resolve this issue, we made alumina structures using rapid pressureless infiltration of a zirconium-based bulk-metallic glass mortar that reactively wets the surface of freeze-cast alumina preforms. The mechanical properties of the resulting Al2O3with a glass-forming compliant-phase change with infiltration temperature and ceramic content, leading to a trade-off between flexural strength (varying from 89 to 800 MPa) and fracture toughness (varying from 4 to more than 9 MPa·m½). The high toughness levels are attributed to brick pull-out and crack deflection along the ceramic/metal interfaces. Since these mechanisms are enabled by interfacial failure rather than failure within the metallic mortar, the potential for optimizing these bioinspired materials for damage tolerance has still not been fully realized.
Amy Wat, Je In Lee, Chae Woo Ryu, Bernd Gludovatz, Jinyeon Kim, Antoni P. Tomsia, Takehiko Ishikawa, Julianna Schmitz, Andreas Meyer, Markus Alfreider, Daniel Kiener, Eun Soo Park, Robert O'Ritchie
Nature Communications, 2019, 10 (961)
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-008753-6
In SituTEM Observation of Rebonding on Fractured Silicon Carbide
BioSilicon carbide (SiC) is widely used in harsh environments and under extreme conditions, including at high-power, high-temperature, high-current, high-voltage and high-frequency. The rebonding and self-matching of stack faults (SFs) is highly desirable to avoid catastrophic failure for SiC devices, especially for specific applications in the aerospace and nuclear power industries. In this study, a novel approach was developed using an eyebrow hair to pick up and transfer nanowires (NWs), in order to obtainin situtransmission electron microscope (TEM) images of the rebonding and self-matching of SFs at atomic resolution. During rebonding and healing, the electron beam was shut off. Rebonding on the fractured surfaces of monocrystalline and amorphous SiC NWs was observed byin situTEM at room temperature. The fracture strength was 1.7 GPa after crack-healing, restoring 12.9% of that of a single crystal NW. Partial recrystallization along the <111> orientation and the self-matching of SFs are responsible for the rebonding of the monocrystalline NW. In comparison, the fracture strengths were 6.7 and 5.5 GPa for the first and second rebonding, respectively recovering 67% and 55% of that of an amorphous NW. Atomic diffusion contributed enormously to the rebonding on fractured surfaces of an amorphous NW, resulting in a healed surface consisting of an amorphous phase and crystallites. This rebonding function provides new insight into the fabrication of high-performance SiC devices for the aerospace, optoelectronic and semiconductor industries.
Zhenyu Zhang, Junfeng Cui, Bo Wang, Haiyue Jiang, Guoxin Chen, Jinhong Yu, Chengte Lin, Chun Tang, Alexander Hartmaier, Junjie Zhang, Jun Luo, Andreas Rosenkranz, Nan Jiang, Dongming, Guo
Nanoscale, 2018, 10, 6261-69
DOI: 10.10.1039/C8NR00341F
