Katia Bertoldi, of Harvard University, has graciously accepted our invitation to be Editor of the iMechanica Journal Club. Katia has a knack to organize really interesting and inspiring symposia and workshops.  Here are two examples:

Extreme Mechanics: Elasticity and Deformation.

The New England Workshop on the Mechanics of Materials and Structures.

Hi there, I'm kind of new in iMechanica despite that I've registered for more than one year. I've read many posts containing helpful information, but never posted my own until now.

PRL 106, 248302 (2011)     The atomic scale lithiation mechanism of individual SnO2 nanowires in a flooding geometry was revealed by in situ transmission electron microscopy. The lithiation was initiated by the formation of multiple stripes with a width of a few nanometers parallel to the (020) plane traversing the entire wires, serving as multiple reaction fronts for later stages of lithiation.

Snap-through actuation of thick-wall electroactive balloons

Stephan Rudykh ^(a), (c), Kaushik Bhattacharya  ^(c) and Gal deBotton ^(a), (b)

^(a) Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University, 84105 Beer-Sheva, Israel

When we topologically classify the defects in ordered media, we consider the character of the fundamental group of the associated order parameter space. To construct those groups, we circumscribe the line defects by circles and the point defects by spheres.
My question is what is done for a surface (possibly infinite) defect, say domain walls. My query primary concerns crystal lattices. I want to characterize the essential defects in solid crystals--for dislocation and interstitial/vacancy, it is straightforward. But what to be done in case of grain/phase boundary?

Fractography is the study of features examined on fracture surfaces and has historically been investigated via Microscope or SEM. Microscope being used for macro scale analysis and SEM particularly when it is the nano or microstructure that is vital to the analysis. Both ultimately allowing for the identification of the fracture mechanism type. Although effective, the Microscope clearly has its limitations and the SEM in most cases, other than atomic level analysis, is unpractical for fracture surface measurement and lacks broad use.

The ability of a material to resist cracking, or fracture, has been vital to the studies of fracture mechanics. Until recently the study of fracture toughness has been analyzed at a macro range using powerful instrumentation applied to large samples.

INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, is a basic and applied research institute in transition to new scientific fields. It has approximately 180 employees, excellent research equipment, and is well supported by public and third-party funding. Its traditional focus is chemical nanotechnology, where the institute holds key patents and has close international links to industry. Under new leadership, this focus is now expanding to include promising novel aspects of materials science, physics and biology.