The Colorado Center for Advanced Ceramics at the Colorado School of Mines (CMS) will purchase a mechanical properties microprobe dedicated to support research, research training, and education in engineering. In addition to providing valuable, and in some cases, critical data for a large number of research programs at CSM, the equipment will foster interaction between research programs within several departments and institutions.
The equipment is critical for several research programs, which require the characterization of materials on a fine scale. A primary area of research aims to describe the structures/properties relationships in thin films and coatings. A second area is the understanding of processing and properties of ceramic based composites. A third area is the fundamental characterization of the coatings and constituents of advanced steels. In-situ constituent property characterization in composites and steels is very important if one is to model the overall mechanical response.
