01/31/2023 | Forschung

Nano crash tests for durable materials

Prof. Merle and his team are developing new characterization methods at the nanoscale with large funding from the European Research Council

For a sustainable economy, it is paramount to manufacture robust and durable products. In the case of cell phones, displays, but also cutting tools or drills, this means making ultrathin coatings so robust that they can withstand repeated impacts. A professor at the University of Kassel is developing new characterization methods at the nano level for this purpose and is receiving major financial support from the European Research Council for this project.

Until now, thin films have been tested with so-called nanoindenters, ultra-fine diamond tips that exert pressure on the material sample. The problem is that these devices cannot apply shocks as they are encountered in reality, for example in the case of impacts - the measurements do not always yield realistic values. Prof. Dr. Benoit Merle, head of the "Mechanical Behavior of Materials" group, is therefore now developing a new type of measurement technique.

Prof. Merle has already succeeded in speeding up measurement with nanoindenters a hundredfold. In the next few years, his aim is to speed up the process by a factor of 100. To this end, a prototype based on piezoceramics is being developed. Piezoceramics are materials that electrically charge up when it deformed and, conversely, can be deformed by electrical voltages. This can be used to precisely actuate and measure on the nanoscale and at very small time intervals.

The process can then be used to test materials more realistically, which in turn will increase knowledge of how material damage forms at the nanoscale and help produce more sustainable products. "We expect a breakthrough in the spatial resolution of mechanical testing at high strain rates," Merle said.

Merle joined the University of Kassel in May 2022 as head of the Chair for Mechanical Behavior of Materials. He brought the project, including €1.8 million in funding from an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council, with him from his previous position at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU).

"Kassel represents a new and exciting step for my scientific career," Merle said. "Materials science is a research focus of the university and there is already a strong cluster of excellent colleagues."

More information: uni-kassel.de/go/ifw-mv

Press contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communications, Press and Public Relations
Phone: +49 561 804-1961
E-mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
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