Organizing Engineering Work - A Comparative-Analysis

This article analyzes the organization of engineering work in six industrial capitalist countries. It identifies four major models for the organization of engineering work; the engineering profession did not succeed in achieving professional “closure” in any of the six countries under review. A review of the historical evolution of the organization of engineering work in each of the six countries reveals that engineering has been shaped by a complex interaction among the profession itself, employers, the state, labor, and preindustrial forces. However, none of the national variations on the four models for organizing engineering labor is stable or without internal contradiction because of the ambiguous “intermediate” position of engineers

Initial Stages of Yield in Nanoindentation

We have used the Interracial Force Microscope" to perform nanoindentations on Au single- crystal surfaces. We have observed two distinct regimes of plastic deformation which are distinguished by the magnitude of discontinuities in load relaxation. At lower stresses, relaxation occurs in small deviations from elastic behavior, while at the higher stresses they take the form of large load drops often resulting in complete relaxation of the applied load. These major events create a relatively wide plastic zone that subsequently deepens more rapidly than it widens. We discuss these findings in terms of contrasting models of dislocation processes in the two regimes

Defect Dependent Elasticity: Nanoindentation as a Probe of Stress-State

Nanoindentation studies reveal that the measured elastic properties of materials can be strongly dependent upon their stress-state and defect structure. Using an interfacial force microscope (IFM), the measured elastic response of 100 nm thick Au films was found to be strongly correlated with the films' stress state and thermal history. Indentation elasticity was also found to vary in close proximity to grain boundaries in thin films and near surface steps on single crystal surfaces. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that these results cannot be explained by elasticity due only to bond stretching. Instead, the measured elastic properties appear to be a combination of bond and defect compliance representing a composite modulus. We propose that stress concentration arising from the structure of grains, voids and grain boundaries is the source of an additional compliance which is sensitive to the stress state and thermal history of a material. The elastic properties of thin metallic films appear to reflect the collective elastic response of the grains, voids and grain boundaries. These results demonstrate that nanoindentation can be useful as a highly localized probe of stress-state and defect structures

The Onset of Pileup in Nanometer-Scale Contacts

The interfacial force microscope (IFM) was used to indent and image defect free Au(111) surfaces, providing atomic-scale observations of the onset of pileup and the excursion of material above the initial surface plane. Images and load-displacement measurements demonstrate that elastic accommodation of an indenter is followed by two stages of plasticity. The initial stage is identified by slight deviations of the load-displacement relationship from the predicted elastic response. Images acquired after indentations showing only this first stage indicate that these slight load relaxation events result in residual indentations 0.5 to 4 nm deep with no evidence of pileup or surface orientation dependence. The second stage of plasticity is marked by a series of dramatic load relaxation events and residual indentations tens of nanometers deep. Images acquired following this second stage document 0.25 nm pileup terraces which reflect the crystallography of the surface as well as the indenter geometry. Attempts to plastically displace the indenter 4-10 nanometers deep into the Au(111) surface were unsuccessful, demonstrating that the transition from stage I to stage H plasticity is associated with overcoming some sort of barrier. Stage I is consistent with previously reported models of dislocation nucleation. The dramatic load relaxations of stage II plasticity, and the pileup of material above the surface, require cross-slip and appear to reflect a dynamic process leading to dislocation intersection with the surface. The IFM measurements reported here offer new insights into the mechanisms underlying the very early stages of plasticity and the formation of pileup

The Correlation of Stress-State and Nano-Mechanical Properties in Au

A dependence of elastic response on the stress-state of a thin film has been demonstrated using the interfacial force microscope (IFM). Indentation response was measured as a function of the applied biaxial stress-state for 100 nm thick Au films. An increase in measured elastic modulus with applied compressive stress, and a decrease with applied tensile stress was observed. Measurements of elastic modulus before and after applying stress were identical indicating that the observed change in response is not due to a permanent change in film properties