Micro Shear Device

Micro Shear Device
A dedicated miniaturized deformation rig has been built to apply reversible shear and to be compatible with in situ Laue micro-diffraction. It requires a rather complex sample geometry, where a single crystal is locally thinned down to x-ray beam transparency. Details on the sample geometry can be found here. The machine is controlled by an in-house written LabVIEW program. It allows to perform cyclic reverse shear at constant total strain or applied force.


More information on the device can be found here:
Following dislocation patterning during fatigue
Irastorza-Landa A, Van Swygenhoven H, Van Petegem S, Grilli N, Bollhalder A, Brandstetter S, Grolimund D
ACTA MATERIALIA 112, 184 (2016).
DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2016.04.011

Technical details

Displacement    
  Minimum step size 5nm
  Maximum speed 20mm/s
Force    
  Maximum force 7N
Strain measurement    
  Method Angular encoder combined with finite element modeling
  Maximum shear strain ~1%
  Resolution 0.01%
Other specifications    
  Deformation modes Reverse shear
  Control modes Displacement, force
  Temperature RT
  Size (L x W x H) 200mm x 90mm x 150mm
  Weight 1kg
  Compatible SLS beam lines MicroXAS