Celebrating a successful return to in-person events, we would like to thank Prof Zhenyu Jason Zhang, who hosted the 2025 Micro Materials user workshop and conference last week in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham.
The first day's workshop sessions had a practical focus, for example including advice on indenter selection, after which delegates were given a guided tour of the department's laboratories, followed by a visit to Birmingham's colourful Chinese quarter for a conference dinner.
On the second day, invited speakers from the UK and Europe, including Prof Zhenyu Jason Zhang, Prof jinju Chen, Prof Tomasz Liskiewicz, Prof. Miguel Monclus, Dr Martin E. Stiehler, Dr Tomasz Stasiak, Dr Jan Tomáštík, Dr Samuel McMaster, Dr James Gibson, and Prof Ben Beake gave presentations from varied applications areas, highlighting the multi-functionality of the NanoTest instruments, in particular the high temperature capabilities, with measurements upto and exceeding 1000 degrees C.
Topics ranged from the nanomechanical properties of hydrogels, and the nanomechanics of DLC coating systems to testing at high temperatures for nuclear applications. New areas of research, such as metallic glasses and acoustic emission as an augmentation of nanoindentation and nanoscratch testing were introduced, and new testing techniques were presented - for example Micro Materials Ltd's patented spatially-distributed impact test.
For more information on this, please visit https://www.micromaterials.co.uk/impact