Fracture-mechanical properties of materials in micro- and nanoscale dimensions have become an important area of fundamental research, including the development and introduction of new techniques for micro- and nanomechanical testing as well as for high-resolution 3D imaging of features in opaque objects. At the same time, there is an increasing need for industry to establish new risk-mitigation strategies based on the understanding of microcrack evolution at small length scales that can cause catastrophic failure in 3D-structured systems and materials, such as leading-edge integrated circuits, advanced battery electrodes, and composites. New design concepts for bio-inspired materials, crack-stop engineering, and the controlled steering of microcracks into regions with high fracture toughness will be discussed.

Sub-topics of the session will be:

• Materials design and modeling/simulation
• Micromechanical tests, microcrack growth, fatigue in metals and composites
• Microcrack imaging using microscopy and tomography techniques
• Interaction of microcracks with materials’ microstructure, energy dissipation mechanisms
• Controlled microcrack steering into toughened regions
• Design of crack-stop structures
• Size and microstructure-dependent metal plasticity
• Natural systems and bio-inspired materials.