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

Micro Shear Device
Displacement  
 Minimum step size5nm
 Maximum speed20mm/s
Force  
 Maximum force7N
Strain measurement  
 MethodAngular encoder combined with finite element modeling
 Maximum shear strain~1%
 Resolution0.01%
Other specifications  
 Deformation modesReverse shear
 Control modesDisplacement, force
 TemperatureRT
 Size (L x W x H)200mm x 90mm x 150mm
 Weight1kg
 Compatible SLS beam linesMicroXAS