Abstract
Recalling some of the progress that has been made in understanding the mechanical properties of materials over the past 50 years or so reveals the importance of remembering and applying old lessons when addressing new opportunities in materials research. Often, the classical lessons of the past are especially useful as a guide for thinking about new problems. Such an approach to new problems is intimately connected to the creation of simple models that capture the essential features of the phenomena involved. Experience shows that, although such efforts might not pay off immediately, they come to be useful many years later when new problems are confronted. The merit of applying old lessons to new problems is described herein by using examples from the author’s career in characterizing and understanding the mechanical properties of materials. It is hoped that these lessons are sufficiently general to be applied to other areas of materials research. Problems ranging from the high-temperature creep resistance of titanium aluminides, to the residual stresses in deposited thin films, to diffusive relaxation processes in thin films, to the size dependence of the strength of crystalline materials at the nanometer scale, all provide examples of how applying lessons of the past can help to understand new problems. An effort is also made to identify new, emerging problems in materials research where the application of the lessons of the past, together with new capabilities of the future, can come together to produce a fresh understanding of material behavior.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
N.F. Mott, Conference on Creep and Fracture of Metals (Philosophical Library, Inc., New York, 1957), p. 21.
O.D. Sherby, R.L. Orr, J.E. Dorn, Trans. AIME 200, 113 (1954).
P.B. Hirsch, R.W. Horne, M.J. Whelan, Philos. Mag. 1, 677 (1956).
C.R. Barrett, W.D. Nix, Acta Metall. 13, 1247 (1965).
D. Rosenthal, Trans. ASME 68, 849 (1946).
G.B. Viswanathan, V.K. Vasudevan, M.J. Mills, Acta Mater. 47, 1399 (1999).
R. Abermann, R. Koch, Thin Solid Films 62, 195 (1979).
J.A. Floro, E. Chason, R.C. Cammarata, D.J. Srolovitz, MRS Bull. 27, 19 (2002).
M.A. Phillips, V. Ramaswamy, W.D. Nix, B.M. Clemens, J. Mater. Res. 15, 2540 (2000).
F.A. Doljack, R.W. Hoffman, Thin Solid Films 12, 71 (1972).
W.D. Nix, B.M. Clemens, J. Mater. Res. 14, 3467 (1999).
A.A. Griffith, Philos. Trans. A 221, 163 (1920).
S.C. Seel, C.V. Thompson, S.J. Hearne, J.A. Floro, J. Appl. Phys. 88, 7079 (2000).
M.J. Kobrinsky, C.V. Thompson, Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 2429 (1998).
H. Gao, L. Zhang, W.D. Nix, C.V. Thompson, E. Arzt, Acta Mater. 47, 2865 (1999).
H.M. Westergaard, J. Appl. Mech. 6, 49 (1939).
R.L. Coble, J. Appl. Phys. 34, 1679 (1963).
T.J. Balk, G. Dehm, E. Arzt, Acta Mater. 51, 4471 (2003).
J.J. Gilman, Micromechanics of Flow in Solids (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969), p. 188.
B. Reppich, P. Haasen, B. Ilschner, Acta Metall. 12, 1283 (1964).
M.D. Uchic, D.M. Dimiduk, J.N. Florando, W.D. Nix, Science 13, 5686 (2004).
J.R. Greer, W.C. Oliver, W.D. Nix, Acta Mater. 53, 1821 (2005).
C.A. Volkert, E.T. Lilleodden, Philos. Mag. 86, 5567 (2006).
W.G. Johnston, J.J. Gilman, J. Appl. Phys. 30, 129 (1959).
Z.-W. Chen, R.K. Misra, A. Asif, O.L. Warren, A.M. Minor, Nat. Mater. 7, 115 (2008).
F.C. Frank, J.H. van der Merwe, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 198, 205 (1949).
J.W. Matthews, A.E. Blakeslee, J. Cryst. Growth 27, 118 (1974).
L.J. Lauhon, M.S. Gudiksen, D. Wang, C.M Lieber, Nature 420, 57 (2002).
I.A. Goldthorpe, A.F. Marshall, P.C. McIntyre, Nano Lett. 8, 4081 (2008).
L.B. Freund, Adv. Appl. Mech. 30, 1 (1994).
L.B. Freund, W.D. Nix, Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 173 (1996).
Y. Liang W.D. Nix, P.B. Griffin, J.D. Plummer, J. Appl. Phys. 97, 043519-1 (2005).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nix, W.D. Exploiting New Opportunities in Materials Research by Remembering and Applying Old Lessons. MRS Bulletin 34, 82–91 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2009.25
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2009.25