Abstract: During the last decade, novel polymers and nanocomposite materials have been developed for applications as micro- and nanodevices. In these applications, conventional mechanical characterization techniques like tensile, compression and bending tests are inapplicable due to the size of the samples. Nanoindentation technique, widely used to characterize the mechanical properties of hard metals and ceramics, has started to be used also to characterize polymers, composites and nanomaterials. The interest in the area has been confirmed by a review article published by the author comparing mechanical measurement techniques at macro-, and nano-scales, which resulted in one of the most downloaded and cited articles in the area.

In this talk, the application of indentation techniques to measure the hardness, elastic modulus, and creep of polymers and composite materials is discussed. A comparison between nanoindentation results and macroscopic properties is presented. Challenges and future perspectives in the application of a novel statistical nanoindentation technique is also suggested.

 

Biography: Esteban Broitman holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), and a Docent (Habilitation) degree in Tribology from Linköping University (Sweden). He has been doing research and teaching at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), The College of William & Mary (USA), Carnegie Mellon University (USA), Linköping University (Sweden), and Invited Professor at University of Sao Pablo (Brazil), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS - China). He is presently a Senior Scientist in the area of Coatings at the SKF Research and Technology Development Center in Netherlands. He has published more than 200 per-reviewed articles and book chapters, and presented numerous Plenary, Keynote and Invited Lectures. His activities focus on the use of advanced surface engineering to control friction and wear at the macro-, micro-, and nano-scales of coatings like DLC, nanocomposites, and softer materials like soft metals and polymers.