Micro- and nanoscale tensile testing of materials

Abstract

This article reviews concepts and techniques for performing instrumented tensile testing of materials at small dimensions. State-of-the-art methods to probe tensile behavior of micro- and nanoscaled materials span many orders of magnitudes of force and displacement, often requiring a custom solution for each new material discovery. We discuss the experimental opportunities, challenges, and pitfalls in concert with the scientific insights revealed from tensile investigations at length scales where conventional wisdom is challenged on how materials deform.