The Nanoindentation Course celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2026 and took the opportunity to invite all our alumni students to a special invited lecture followed by a drinks reception.
We were honored to welcome Dr. Xavier Maeder, a leading expert in small-scale mechanics and characterization techniques, who gave a lecture entitled “Beyond Nanoindentation: Advanced Combined Approaches for Mechanical Characterization”.
Abstract: Assessing deformation mechanisms in materials requires advanced characterization techniques capable of resolving microstructural evolution, local strain and stress fields, and defect mobility down to the nanometer scale. Mechanical testing inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) enables the integration of multiple complementary techniques, including high-angular-resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD), transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD), and digital image correlation (DIC). These methods allow the investigation of microstructural changes, phase transformations, plasticity, elastic strain, and crystal defect distributions and mobility at successive stages of deformation, and under in situ loading conditions.
Further combined approaches, such as high-speed nanoindentation mapping coupled with X-ray diffraction, as well as elemental mapping via X-ray fluorescence, provide comprehensive insights into complex material microstructures. These analytical capabilities are further enhanced by recent advances in micromechanical testing, spanning a wide range of conditions from cryogenic to high temperatures and from quasi-static to high strain rates.
This presentation will highlight several combinatorial in situ characterization approaches alongside the latest developments in small-scale mechanical testing, demonstrating their potential to provide a more complete understanding of deformation mechanisms across multiple length scales.
Xavier Maeder is the group leader for research in nano-analytics and small-scale mechanics at the Laboratory of Mechanics of Materials and Nanostructures at Empa. He studied geosciences at the University of Lausanne and earned his PhD in 2007 from the University of Mainz, Germany, where he worked on the physics of deformation in rocks and minerals. From 2007 to 2008, he held a one-year postdoctoral position in the Department of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University, where he studied the microstructure and deformation mechanisms of highly deformed limestone. He joined Empa in 2008 as a postdoctoral researcher, working for three years mainly on the microstructure and mechanical properties of thin films and coatings. In 2011, he took up an assistant position at the University of Lausanne, focusing on deformation mechanisms and microstructure in shear zones. In 2012, he returned to materials science as a postdoctoral researcher at CSEM in Neuchâtel, where he conducted several applied projects on microsystems and coatings using advanced X-ray diffraction techniques. Xavier Maeder is an expert in electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques.