Archived Webinars

 

Click here to view Micro Materials archived webinars on YouTube

The “random impact” test – a revolutionary nano-impact testing method for simulating erosive wear in coatings and bulk materials

When a material is subjected to solid particle erosion, the surface is impacted by particles at random locations and the subsequent wear is complicated by the interactions between the impact-damaged regions. Micro Materials have developed a completely new impact test technique which enables real erosion conditions to be accurately simulated by programmed stage movement that produces multiple nano-impacts at different locations on the test sample service.

In this webinar, Professor Ben Beake describes the new test, with examples of where it has been used in the development of advanced thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems for jet engines. Results from the new test show excellent correlation with conventional erosion tests on TBCs, replicating damage mechanisms and coating rankings.

Advanced nanomechanical characterisation techniques

Nano-mechanical testing techniques are increasingly used by researchers worldwide to characterise novel materials for use in a wide range of engineering applications.

In this webinar, Professor Ben Beake introduces the commonly used techniques, including some unique to Micro Materials Ltd, such as highstrain rate fatigue testing with our nano-impact module  and high cycle wear behaviour with our nano-fretting module.

Professor Beake also discusses the benefits of testing in simulated real-life working conditions at high temperature upto 750 degrees C and in sub-ambient temperatures, in liquids and in different relative humidities.

 

Nano-fretting: expanding the operational envelope of nano-mechanical testing

Miniaturisation of mechanical devices results in severe contact conditions generated by relatively small forces. Performance of materials at small contact scales is a significant challenge and tribology becomes an enabling technology for any small scale devices with moving components. Fretting experiments performed at small contact scales bring specific challenges including increased importance of surface energy and adhesion, role of wear particles and impact of surface roughness.

In this webinar Dr. Tomasz Liskiewicz examines some of the latest results obtained using nano-fretting module attached to NanoTest platform.

Outline of the presentation:

–          Nano-fretting regime definition
–          Experimental setup
–          Small scale fretting of biomedical materials
–          Small scale fretting of ta-C films on Silicon
–          Indentation, scratch and small scale fretting on Silicon

 

High Temperature nano-mechanics webinar series:

The ability to measure mechanical properties under application specific temperatures is an invaluable tool for optimisation of material properties. Nanoindentation is a practical method for assessing the temperature dependence of hardness, elastic modulus and creep properties of thin film and small volume samples. In addition complementary techniques such as nanoscratch and nanoimpact testing allow tribological and high strain rate analysis for simulation of the material’s final application conditions.

This webinar series introduces and discusses these techniques with the aid of a range of applications examples at test temperatures up to 750 degrees C. There is also  a discussion of considerations to be made when designing and undertaking high temperature measurements.

 

High temperature nano-mechanics: Equipment and methodology

In part 1 of the webinar series Applications engineer Mike Davies introduces the experimental techniques and methodology used in high temperature nanomechanical testing.

 

High temperature nano-mechanics: Nanoindentation case studies to 750 C

In part 2 of the webinar series Applications engineer Adrian Harris presents a selection of nanoindentation case studies looking at materials for a variety of applications with data from testing at temperatures up to 750 degrees C.

 

High temperature nano-mechanics: nano-tribology to 750 C

In part 3 of the webinar series Prof Ben Beake presents nanotribological tests performed on a variety of materials at temperatures up to 750 degrees C.

 

Using high temperature nano-mechanical testing for optimising coating performance

Frictional heating results in very high operating temperatures in ultra-high speed machining but the nanoindentation tests used to evaluate novel PVD coating systems for improved cutting performance are invariably performed at room temperature. If nanomechanical measurements are to be used reliably in the optimisation of coatings then it is much better that the measurements are performed at the relevant temperature!

This is done in the NanoTest system using a patented method to separately heat and control the temperatures of indenter and sample resulting in minimal/no thermal drift during the high temperature indentation. The instrumentation allows reliable nanoindentation testing to 750 C and above.

In this webinar Professor Ben Beake reports on high temperature nanoindentation data for a wide range of nitride-based hard coatings and design rules suggested for coating optimisation for different machining applications. The role of adaptive behaviour and tribo-film formation is also discussed. The coatings studied show large differences in how their hardness, modulus and H/E vary with increasing temperature.

Overall, the high temperature nanoindentation data show excellent correlation to coating life under severe high speed machining applications.