Research Projects

NANO- AND MICRO-SCALE MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION USING AN INSTRUMENTED INDENTER

Faculty Mentors: Prof. R. Vaidyanathan

Quantitative measurements of nanoscale mechanical properties are increasingly becoming necessary with the emergence of nanoscale science, engineering and technology, and the continuously decreasing size of engineering structures. This need for small-scale mechanical characterization is not merely limited to cases involving mechanical functionality, but extends to applications where functionality is coupled with mechanical behavior (e.g., assessing the thermo-mechanical reliability of patterned Cu or Al interconnect lines in microprocessors). Conventional testing methods such as tensile testing cannot be used to obtain mechanical properties at these reduced size scales. This project gives an undergraduate student a hands-on opportunity to acquire and analyze data using a nanoindeter at UCF.

• Hands-on training on the use of a nanoindenter for measurements both at ambient and elevated temperatures on shape memory and superelastic alloys.
• An understanding of the mechanics of deformation under a diamond indenter tip.
• An understanding of the thermomechanical mechanisms and principles in two novel classes of functional materials i.e., shape-memory alloys and amorphous metals.