Asylum Research Webinar: Contact Resonance Tools for Nanomechanics

Description

Nanoscale on mechanical properties is critical for many materials and applications. Atomic force microscopy techniques for probing mechanical properties of samples in the nanometer range have emerged over the past decades. In contrast to the large number of techniques for softer samples, few techniques are capable of measuring moduli in the 1-200 GPa range. One technique, Contact Resonance (CR), has proven to work very well in this range. CR methods operate in contact mode with dynamic excitation near a cantilever resonant , enabling sensitive measurements over a wide range of materials. Moreover, analysis of the CR peak and quality factor yields accurate, quantitative data on elastic modulus and viscoelastic damping.

In this webinar, we’ll explain the basic concepts of measurements with different CR approaches including:

• Point
• Qualitative contrast imaging
• Quantitative mapping

We’ll also discuss practical implementation of contact resonance to a variety of samples and some of the pitfalls and artifacts you might encounter. Finally, we’ll present results on how CR methods have been used to improve understanding of systems such as:

• Composites
• films
• Biomaterials
• Polymer blends

The nanomechanical characterization capabilities of CR methods, as you will come to learn, are an essential tool for the development, production, and in-situ monitoring of today’s and tomorrow’s materials.

About Your Lecturers:

Dr. Donna Hurley leads the Nanomechanics Project in the Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) in Boulder, CO. Her project team creates and applies measurement technology for -property characterization. For over 10 years, she has developed contact resonance modes for quantitative nanomechanical imaging. She is author or co-author of numerous technical articles, including chapters in the recently released Scanning Acoustic Techniques (Springer-Verlag, 2012) and the upcoming SPM in Industrial Applications: Nanomechanical Characterization (John Wiley & Sons, 2013). She has a Ph.D. in from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to NIST, she worked at GE Corporate Research (Schenectady, NY) and the University of Nottingham (UK).

Dr. Roger Proksch is President and co-founder of Asylum Research, an Instruments company. He has over 20 years of experience. He has co-authored many papers and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.