This paper aims at illustrating the potential of X-ray tomography for studying the mechanical behaviour of materials through in situ experiments. Typical experimental tomography set ups which use laboratory and synchrotron X ray sources are described; advantages and limitations of both types of sources are presented. Dedicated experimental devices which allow deformation and/or temperature changes to be applied to various types of materials are described. Examples of results of in situ mechanical experiments are presented and discussed; they include monotonic tensile testing of steel fiber entanglements, This is the 3rd in a series of featured review articles to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Experimental Mechanics. These articles serve to touch on both areas of mechanics where the journal has contributed extensively in the past and emergent areas for the future.

The aim of this paper is to report the very first in situ observations of the deformation behaviour of an Al-Cu alloy in the semisolid state by using ultrafast, high-resolution X-ray microtomography. It is shown that this deformation is non-homogeneous and involves an accumulation of liquid at an intergranular surface nearly perpendicular to the strain axis. Once the liquid is no longer able to feed such a region, micropores form and grow at this surface, finally leading to a crack.

No abstract

The control of the growth morphologies of ice crystals is a critical issue in fields as diverse as biomineralization, medicine, biology, civil or food engineering. Such control can be achieved through the ice-shaping properties of specific compounds. The development of synthetic ice-shaping compounds is inspired by the natural occurrence of such properties exhibited by antifreeze proteins. We reveal how a particular zirconium acetate complex is exhibiting ice-shaping properties very similar to that of antifreeze proteins, albeit being a radically different compound. We use these properties as a bioinspired approach to template unique faceted pores in cellular materials. These results suggest that ice-structuring properties are not exclusive to long organic molecules and should broaden the field of investigations and applications of such substances.

No abstract

No abstract

International audienc

No abstract