| Recent interest in very small scale fibers has driven testing of these materials for their mechanical properties. Due to the difficulty in handling specimens for testing and measuring small loads and displacements required for deformation, mechanical properties of these fibers have not been widely characterized. Existing technologies used for small scale fiber testing are the designs made for larger scale material testing. There exists a gap between the capabilities of existing technologies and a technology capable of truly quantitative small scale measurements. This work makes steps toward narrowing this gap by integrating small mechanical and electrical designs, enabling high resolution in small scale measurements.; In this work, the design development, modeling and simulation, fabrication, instrumentation and the calibration stages of the small scale tensile testing machine have been made. Conducting experiments on single nylon fibers, the mechanical properties of the material have been analyzed and the performance of the machine has been evaluated. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
