A Novel Test Method for Measuring Mechanical Properties at the Small-Scale: The Theta Specimen

Published

June 9, 2005

Author(s)

George D. Quinn, Lin-Sien H. Lum, Dan Xiang, Ajitkumar Jillavenkatesa, Li Ma, Douglas T. Smith

Abstract

A test method has been developed for measuring mechanical properties of material structures at the small-scale. Round or hexagonal rings are compressed vertically on their ends thereby creating a uniform tension stress in a horizontal crossbar that serves as the gauge section. The compression loading scheme is simple and eliminates the need for special grips. A conventional nanoindentation hardness machine serves as a small-scale universal testing machine that applies load and monitors displacement. Prototype miniature silicon specimens were fabricated by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of a single crystal wafer and were tested to fracture. Finite element analysis confirmed that the stress distribution was very uniform in the web portion of the specimen. The theta specimen is a versatile configuration and has great potential for use with a variety of materials and for testing extremely small structures.

Proceedings Title

29th International Conf. On Advanced Ceramics & Composites

Volume

26

Issue

2

Conference Dates

January 28-29, 2005

Conference Title

Ceramic Engineering and Science Conference

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

DRIE, fracture origin, silicon, theta specimen

Citation

Quinn, G. , Lum, L. , Xiang, D. , Jillavenkatesa, A. , Ma, L. and Smith, D. (2005), A Novel Test Method for Measuring Mechanical Properties at the Small-Scale: The Theta Specimen, 29th International Conf. On Advanced Ceramics & Composites (Accessed October 18, 2025)