Northumbria University Scanning Electron Microscope Picomechanical Indenter (NU-Pico)

Novel multifunctional materials and surfaces are finding increasing use in a range of sectors like healthcare, energy, aerospace, communications and infrastructure. Understanding the complex interactions between the multifunctional surface properties of these materials often requires detailed characterisation of their nanomechanical, morphological and chemical properties. This is usually achieved by manually correlating data from separate instruments such as nano-tribomechanical-indenters and scanning electron microscopes (SEM) coupled with quantitative elemental characterization. However, this approach can be tedious and error prone as traditional nanoindentation tools take time to extract nano-mechanical data from a relatively localised site, which is not always representative of the whole material surface and the absence of detailed surface images or other correlative data from an in-situ SEM drastically increases the probability of misunderstanding the result. In contrast SEM picoindentation overcomes these issues and enables unprecedented correlative characterisation of multifunctional properties of these material surfaces. The Northumbria University (NU) Scanning Electron Microscope Picomechanical Indenter (NU-Pico) will provide a state-of-the-art regional facility for high-speed simultaneous characterisation of the nanomechanical, morphological and chemical properties of thin film coatings, surfaces and nanomaterials. NU-Pico will be the first SEM picoindenter in the northeast of England and will support unprecedented recent growth in biomaterials, renewable energy materials, civil engineering materials and smart materials and surfaces research at NU and provide a game-changing nanomechanical facility for the region and beyond. NU-Pico will be developed with user engagement, ease of service, seamless integration and sustainability in mind, to provide an enabling platform for academic and industrial researchers to perform high speed mechanical property mapping of material surfaces (surface hardness, Young’s modulus, compression, tension, fatigue, adhesion etc.), while using SEM capabilities to perform simultaneous high resolution surface imaging, chemical mapping, 3D surface profiling and phase distribution studies. NU-Pico can also operate as a stand-alone picoindenter capable of high-speed mechanical property mapping for users not requiring the additional SEM capabilities. Moreover, custom made modules will be capable of transforming NU-Pico into a powerful bio-indenter capable of studying the surfaces of soft and biological matter like biomaterials, biopolymers, functional biocomposites and hydrogels. NU-Pico will therefore achieve a drastic expansion on current nano-tribomechanical testing capability and unlock a range of complimentary material characterisation techniques, critical for rapid prototyping of novel materials for cutting edge applications. The modular and user-friendly nature of NU-Pico, together with its enhanced capability, will make it useful for a much larger user base, including early career researchers, PhD students, research technical professionals and industry users, from wider interdisciplinary research areas. The NU-Pico project also promotes the principles of equality diversity and inclusion by promoting Research Technical Professionals into key leading roles.