Determination of mechanical properties of microparts

Knowledge of the physical and technical properties of materials and their compounds is required for design and assessment of the reliability of microparts. The small dimensions of their relevant structural elements affect the conditions of solid state processes, so that partially a new assessment of the material properties is necessary. Conventional mechanical testing has to be fitted to the new (smaller) dimensions in measurements of displacement and load. A combination of mechanical testing, investigations of structure and morphology together with numerical FEM simulations was applied for assessment of the mechanical properties of materials in the micro range and of micromechanical elements.