DOMAINS OF APPLICATION
At Alemnis, we push the frontiers of numerous nanomechanical testing methods with a high-precision nanoindenter assembly and a range of complementary accessories, consumables, and controls.
Thanks to its unmatched versatility, the Alemnis Standard Assembly (ASA) is the go-to instrument for a vast array of research domains and industrial applications such as:
The Alemnis system has been used for thousands of studies covering all classes of materials (metals, polymers, ceramics, composites) and many different test methods (micropillar compression, tensile testing, indentation, beam bending, mapping, fracture toughness, fatigue and shock, impact, creep, stress relaxation, scratch testing, tribology, etc..). Read more
The ASA can be installed in “hot” chambers that handle radioactive materials and is especially suited to the study of mechanical properties of nuclear materials because of its ability to test extremely small volumes of material. Read more
The development of Integrated Circuit (IC) and other semiconductor devices has, in recent years, been more focussed on the fabrication process than on issues concerning reliability and the link to mechanical properties. Many issues related to tribology, mechanics, surface chemistry and materials science should be considered in the operation and manufacture of many devices.. Read more
The ASA is perfectly adapted to the testing of biomaterials in a range of environments, both in-situ and ex-situ. Some examples include bone micropillars (made from FIB milling) tested inside the SEM, submerged biomaterials tested ex-situ in a liquid cell, and analysis of biocompatible coatings for dental applications. Read more
The ASA is ideally suited to the characterization of hybrid structure mechanical properties by uniaxial microcompression owing to its highly accurate displacement control and large displacement range (typically 40 µm, but available up to 100 µm). It has been used for a number of studies on various types of hybrid structures and it has become apparent that the combination of low load resolution and displacement control makes it one of the only instrumented indentation techniques capable of capturing the true deformation response of the 3D structure. Read more
The ASA provides a highly powerful method for measuring the load and depth response of bulk and coated materials, but can also be used to measure the mechanical properties of very small micro-machined silicon structures. The ASA can be used to perform standard nanoindentation fatigue tests (typically at low oscillation frequencies) or high-frequency oscillatory fatigue tests with the Ultra High Strain (UHSR) option. The flexibility of the system allows fatigue testing to be performed in many sample orientations and configurations. Examples include quasi-static uniaxial indentation, high-frequency indentation fatigue, beam bending, micropillar compression fatigue, impact fatigue, etc. Read more
A wide range of electrical applications is possible with the Alemnis Standard Assembly (ASA), ranging from electrical contact resistance measurements during material deformation to electro-chemical studies using the Liquid Cell (LIC). Read more
The ASA has been used for a large number of studies on coatings in various forms. These can be standard coatings deposited onto reference substrates, coated 3D structures manufactured by additive manufacturing, coatings used in microelectronics and MEMS, or micropillars of multilayers produced by focused ion beam (FIM) milling or selective lithography processes. Read more
Micro-additive manufacturing (µAM) and laser-assisted etching techniques are now enabling the efficient and precise fabrication of micrometre-sized complex glass components. To achieve a scientifically driven approach to design and processing of such glasses, both industry and academia require fundamental mechanical data. Time for micro- and nanomechanical testing! Read more