Machines and apparatus for testing and measuring

Tender description

The School of Mechanical and Design Engineering requires a new depth sensing nanoindentation instrument for mechanical and tribological measurements. Requirement is for the supply, installation and commissioning of instrumented nanoindentation unit along with accessories, data acquisition and analysis software. The instrument will be used for teaching and research to measure and test various materials including, but not limited to polymers, metals, thin films, biomaterials, woods and composites in both ambient and liquid environments. Nanoindentation instrument for the measurement of hardness, elastic modulus and other material properties of bulk materials, from metals to soft polymers to biomaterials, as well as thin films see specification. To Express an Interest in this project please register on the University of Portsmouth In-Tend webpage and express an interest in this project. Please find the weblink for our webpage: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/port/ The School of Mechanical and Design Engineering requires a new depth sensing nanoindentation instrument for mechanical and tribological measurements. The instrument will be used for teaching and research to measure and test various materials including, but not limited to polymers, metals, thin films, biomaterials, woods and composites in both ambient and liquid environments. Specifications Nanoindentation instrument for the measurement of hardness, elastic modulus and other material properties of bulk materials, from metals to soft polymers to biomaterials, as well as thin films (< 100 nm). Instrument should be capable to perform dynamic and quasi-static nanoindentation, imaging, and nanoscale scratching and wear testing with industry leading sensitivity, reliability and performance. Essential Specifications: Instrument should be equipped with indentation module (load controlled and depth controlled) allowing to measure various mechanical properties including (but not limited) elastic modulus, hardness, creep, fracture toughness, interfacial adhesion. System should be able to provide indentation and friction measurements using tips with various shapes (Berkovich, sphero-conical, cube cone) as well as custom made tips (flat punch, steel/ceramic balls). Low indentation head: normal load ranging from few μN (or lower) up to max several hundred of mN, with a normal load resolution in nN range, and displacement resolution below 1 nm. In-situ drift compensation capabilities for best accuracy during the measurements. Motorised stage allowing automated and unattended operation. Stage must allow to mount and measure several simultaneously attached samples. Please state how many samples (include their sizes) can be attached. At least up to 5 mm height difference between samples must be manageable. The instrument should include a microscope with at least 5 MP colour camera, objective of minimum 10x optical magnification, and allow digital zoom. Sample manipulation and selection of test position should be simple and easily manipulated. Positioning accuracy should be better than 0,5 μm. Dynamic measurements (continuous stiffness) of mechanical properties as a function of contact depth, time and frequency. Instrument should be able to generate maps of measured mechanical properties such as hardness and modulus. In addition to standard instrument’s performance, machine should be capable (or easily upgradable) to do high-throughput/high-speed mapping of mechanical properties in as short time as possible (for example, 100 indents in 10 minutes). In-situ Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) imaging module for high resolution 3D imaging of sample surfaces and ultra-precise indent placement from resulting images before and after experiments. Minimum available imaging size 5 x 5 μm or lower, maximum size at least 80 x 80 μm. Scan resolution: at least 256 lines per image. Instrument should be equipped (or easily upgraded) with scratching and wear module to measure friction, wear, film delamination. Friction load resolution in nN/μN range. Instruments should be accompanied with various indentation standards. Instruments should be accompanied with various indentation and scratching probes: 1 x diamond Berkovich indenters, 1 x 5 μm radius sphero-conical indenter and 1 x cube corner. Other indenter geometries should be available. Instrument must be provided with, vibration isolation platform, thermal control chamber. System must be equipped with instrumented data recording computer system, and analytical software. Additional copies of the instrument software must be available for off line data analysis. Maintenance and warranty packages: in addition to standard warranty, there should be a choice of various comprehensive warranty packages. Software updates should be available free of charge for at least 3 years.