Nanomechanics

The Nanomechanics research group investigates the micro- and nano scale mechanical properties of different classes of materials like metals and ceramics. Besides the mechanical strength, the focus is on the fracture toughness, fatigue and time-dependent deformation properties.

Various instruments at the institute make it possible to characterize the different mechanical properties e.g. via nanoindentation and Focused Ion Beam enhanced micropillar compression and in-situ microcantilever bending. Furthermore, the properties of thin films (down to 50 nm thickness) can be accessed by bulge testing.

In May 2022, Benoit Merle was appointed professor to the University of Kassel and is now heading the lab for Mechanical Properties of Materials.

Team

Dr. mont. Michael Wurmshuber

Group Leader Nanomechanics

Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Chair of General Materials Properties

• Phone number: +49 9131 85-27473
• Email: michael.wurmshuber@fau.de

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Mathias Göken

Head of Institute, Group Leader Nanomechanics

Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Chair of General Materials Properties

• Phone number: +49 9131 85-27501
• Email: mathias.goeken@fau.de

Current research projects

Metallic thin film fatigue dominated by interface character

Metallic thin films are used in many applications like sensors and micro electronic mechanical sensors (MEMS) where they are often subjected to cyclic loading. Due to their low thickness in the range of several nanometers to a few micrometers the properties and failure mechanisms of thin films are different comparing to bulk material. The interface character plays an dominant part in how fatigue damage and failure occurs in thin films. The interfaces between thin film and substrate can be considered as hard (thin film on metal or ceramic substrate), soft (thin film on polymer) or free-standing (thin film without substrate).
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Mechanical properties of deformation induced interfaces on medium and high entropy Alloys

Highly alloyed material systems, based on Co, Ni or Fe have gained huge scientific interest in the last few decades. With the improvement of electron microscopy, the opportunity to analyse and characterize their broad variety of deformation mechanisms and therefore outstanding mechanical properties is enabled. High temperature steels based on FeNiCr which show remarkable mechanical properties, oxidation resistance as well as good processing and economical aspects are used widely.
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Publications

• Feldner P., Merle B., Göken M.:
  Breakdown of the superplastic deformation behavior of heterogeneous nanomaterials at small length scales
  In: Materials Research Letters 9 (2021), p. 41-49
  ISSN: 2166-3831
  DOI: 10.1080/21663831.2020.1818323
  URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21663831.2020.1818323
• Marian M., Song GC., Wang B., Fuenzalida VM., Krauß S., Merle B., Tremmel S., Wartzack S., Yu J., Rosenkranz A.:
  Effective usage of 2D MXene nanosheets as solid lubricant – Influence of contact pressure and relative humidity
  In: Applied Surface Science 531 (2020), p. 1-10
  ISSN: 0169-4332
  DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.147311
  URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169433220320687?dgcid=coauthor
• Kabir A., Espineira-Cachaza M., Fiordaliso EM., Ke D., Grasso S., Merle B., Esposito V.:
  Effect of cold sintering process (CSP) on the electro-chemo-mechanical properties of Gd-doped ceria (GDC)
  In: Journal of the European Ceramic Society 40 (2020), p. 5612-5618
  ISSN: 0955-2219
  DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2020.06.010
• Merle B., Higgins WH., Pharr GM.:
  Extending the range of constant strain rate nanoindentation testing
  In: Journal of Materials Research (2020)
  ISSN: 0884-2914
  DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2019.408
  URL: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1557/jmr.2019.408.pdf
• Krauß S., Schieß T., Göken M., Merle B.:
  Revealing the local fatigue behavior of bimodal copper laminates by micropillar fatigue tests
  In: Materials Science and Engineering A-Structural Materials Properties Microstructure and Processing 788 (2020), Article No.: 139502
  ISSN: 0921-5093
  DOI: 10.1016/j.msea.2020.139502