AFM-bulge test (preliminary)

Zirconia(ZrO2)-based ceramics are strong, hard and inert, with low thermal conductivity and good biocompatibility. Additionally, the discovery that zirconia can be toughened by the ‘martensitic transformation’ from tetragonal (T) to monoclinic (M) gives further confidence in the application of ZrO2 ceramics in the domains of optical communication, automobile, chemical industry, femoral implants and thermal barrier coatings. In this project, the radically new AFSEM system will be applied to effectively integrate the superiority of AFM and EBSD in FEI Magellan 400 SEM. A novel AFM-bulge test will be developed to characterize mechanical properties of ZrO2 thin films.