[learn_more caption=”Warren C. Oliver, Ph.D. “] Warren Oliver obtained his BS in Materials Science from the University of Tennessee in 1976. He received a MS and PhD of Materials Science in 1981 from Stanford University studying with Professor W. D. Nix. Dr. Oliver spent one year on a postdoctoral appointment at Brown, Boveri and Co., Ltd followed by two years (1982-1984) at the United Technologies Research Center. He then returned to Tennessee for a position at Oak Ridge National Laboratories for ten years until 1994 at which time he left to spend full time directing Nano Instruments, a company he helped to found in 1984. In 1998 Nano Instruments was acquired by MTS Corporation. In 2008 the group was acquired by Agilent Technologies. Finally, in 2009 Dr. Oliver helped form and became president of a new company, Nanomechanics, Inc.During the course of his research career, Dr. Oliver has made notable contributions to the area of intermetallic alloy development and the mechanical characterization of materials and structures on the micro and nano scale. In particular, he has contributed to the development and commercialization of nanoindentation equipment and techniques. Over the years, Dr. Oliver is the inventor on 14 patents and has published more than 250 papers in peer reviewed international journals. [/learn_more]

The basic techniques and models generally used to perform and analyze nanoindentation and ultra low load tensile testing will be reviewed.  Frequency specific, as well as broadband measurements will be discussed and the details required to make these techniques accurate will be presented.  High speed testing and the benefits of applying that technique to property mapping and improved statistical sampling of material properties will be demonstrated.