Micro Stress

This book addresses issues pertinent to mechanics and stress generation, especially in recent advanced cases of technology developments, spanning from micrometer interconnects in solar photovoltaics (PV), next-gen energy storage devices to multilayers of nano-scale composites enabling novel stretchable/flexible conductor technologies. In these cases, the mechanics of materials have been pushed to the extreme edges of human knowledge to enable cutting-edge, unprecedented functionalities and technological innovations. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction, in situ small-scale mechanical testing combined with physics-based computational modeling/simulation, has been widely used approaches to probe these mechanics of the materials at their extreme limits due to their recently discovered distinct advantages.

Laser shock processing (LSP) is a new and promising surface treatment technique for improving the fatigue durability, corrosion, wear resistance and other mechanical properties of metals and alloys. During LSP, the generated shock wave can introduce a deep compressive residual stress into the material, due to its high-pressure (GPa-TPa), ultra-fast (several tens nanoseconds), ultra-high strain-rate and high-energy. The overall properties and behavior of metal materials subjected to LSP were significantly improved because a refined surface layer was successfully obtained. Nevertheless, up to now, a clear scenery between micro-structure and macro-property of the refined surface layer, especially formation of sub-micrometer grains from coarse grains during severe plastic deformation, is still pending. Therefore, the basic studies of the underlying mechanism for grain refinement by ultra-high strain-rate presented in this book becomes more and more crucial.

The very existence of stress generates more stress. The more of it that piles up, the less we're able to cope. It's time to take back control.