Micro-compression testing of fcc metals: A selected overview of experiments and simulations

Micro-compression tests allow for the direct measurement of stress-strain behavior in volumes of material that have microscale dimensions. Initial studies worldwide have focused on the exploration of size-scale effects, where sample dimensions at the micrometer-and sub-micrometer scale can dramatically affect the fundamental processes of plastic deformation. Importantly, this scale of test volume can be directly modeled using state-of-the-art discrete dislocation simulations, the results of which have been essential to understanding the changes that can occur to dislocation mechanisms within small volumes. This combination of miniaturized testing and modeling that closely mimics these experiments provides a new pathway to characterize plastic fl ow on a highly localized basis.