Experimental Mechanics in Nano-Engineering

A new renaissance in the field of Experimental Mechanics is well underway because of the recent technologies developed for Nano-Engineering. There are many challenges to face and overcome when going from the macro world to the manipulation of nano-objects. In the macro world, with the experience gained in the last century and the development of numerical techniques, Experimental Mechanics has changed its initial role of an analogical tool to solve difficult differential equations to a complementary methodology to support numerical techniques in handling complex boundary condition effects in static or dynamic problems. Experimental Mechanics is also a very important tool in materials science research. With the introduction of Nano-Engineering, Experimental Mechanics has experienced a vast expansion in its applications to understand an almost completely new field where both basic physical properties that have a well established statistical meaning in the macro world and fundamental formulations require a revision and in many cases new theoretical developments. Since theories must be supported by experimental evidence, Experimental Mechanics represents a necessary basic tool to lay the foundations to understanding properties and behavior of materials at the nano-level. There are well established tools that allow events at the nano-level to be observed: for example, X-rays with new developments in holographic interferometry done with X-rays. Electron microscopy also has been extended to the field of holographic interferometry. Optics with its versatile photons appears also as a promising tool in many cases where X-rays or electron microscopy become difficult or impossible to apply. However, the classical resolution limitations confined for a long while optics to be used in the range of hundreds of nanometers. New recent developments have opened a new window of opportunity for optical techniques to be applied in the nano-range. This chapter will cover these recent developments. The essential theoretical aspects that make it possible to go beyond the classical resolution limits as well as their application in engineering problems such as metrology, surface topography and strain determinations will be presented.