MATERIALS SCIENCE

The Alemnis system has been used for thousands of studies in the materials science domain, 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..). It can be operated in-situ in Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) or other closed environment (vacuum chamber, nuclear hot chamber, etc.) or ex-situ on a laboratory bench or in a synchrotron beamline. In addition, the Alemnis technology can be combined with many other complimentary techniques, such as Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), X-ray, tomography, Raman spectroscopy, electrical, electro-chemical, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), optical microscopy, confocal microscopy, to name but a few…

Some examples of specific materials science applications:

• Micropillar compression to investigate toughness of hard coatings
• Scratch testing of coatings
• Impact & shock testing of MEMS
• Micropillar compression of bone pillars
• Crush testing of 3D additive manufactured structures
• Hardness, elastic modulus and creep of O-ring rubber seals
• Mechanical properties of hydrogel contact lenses
• Properties of toothpaste additives and dental fillers
• Viscoelastic recovery of automotive paint coatings
• Stress-strain properties of nuclear materials in hot chamber environments
• Slip deformation of titanium alloys for aerospace
• Contact resistance of electrical connectors under constant applied strain
• Electro-chemical studies of metals in liquid cell at cathodic and passive potentials
• High frequency cyclic lateral oscillation to simulate fretting conditions in metals