This research plan involves cross-disciplinary applications of instrumented indentation to the investigation of elastic-plastic deformation in a number of inorganic and biological materials systems of increasing visibility and fundamental importance to the engineering and physiological communities, and spanning nano- to macro-scopic size scales. The power of indentation as a scientific tool lies primarily in its experimental simplicity, due to the minimal specimen preparation involved. However, interpretation of results is non-trivial and key to successful analysis are sufficient analytical modeling and supplementary observation. In this plan, indentation will be used to develop constitutive behavior of three 'testbed' systems: i) rapidly quenched small-volume structures on substrates, ii) carbon nanotube arrays on substrates, and iii) lung parenchyma. Academic, industrial and/or clinical collaborators have been identified to add perspective and disseminate information. Efforts are planned to develop new interdisciplinary research courses for university, and practical and pre-collegiate training programs for K-12 students.
