Events EMMC20Conference SymposiaS12: Experimental mechanics and microstructural characterization of materials

S12: Experimental mechanics and microstructural characterization of materials

 

 Thomas Pardoen, University of Louvain, Belgium, email

 Eric Maire, INSA, Lyon, France, email

 

Symposium description

Experimental mechanics and microstructural characterization are ubiquitous in the context of materials engineering towards mechanical applications in order to improve materials, select the right materials, optimize structural design and assess risks of failure. Constitutive models used in mechanical design are getting more and more complex and also more and more physical. These models include a large number of materials parameters that relate to the mechanisms of deformation and fracture, coupled to other thermal, electrical, magnetic effects and to the microstructure. These model parameters can thus be identified and validated based on large data sets, which increases the robustness but also the difficulty of this process. However, the quality and reliability of these data remain the starting point. In particular, rich experimental methods have been developed to simultaneously characterize in situ the microstructure, and its evolution, the deformation and failure mechanisms, the local fields and the overall response.  This holds for example for optical measurement systems to determine thermal and mechanical fields on the surface of, and even inside, a structure. The advent of X Ray tomography coupled to thermomechanical testing has also led to new possibilities in terms of internal characterization of materials. The present minisymposium focuses on new trends in experimental mechanics that make possible for micro- and macroscopic in-situ observations in the context of multiscale and multiphysics applications, and on the progress in the quality and quantity of the generated data.