{"id":183,"date":"2025-08-22T11:25:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T10:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/nu-pico\/?page_id=183"},"modified":"2025-11-19T13:49:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T13:49:13","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/nu-pico\/?page_id=183","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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About NU-Pico<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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NU-Pico provides a <\/span>state-of-the-art regional facility for high-speed simultaneous characterisation <\/span>of the nanomechanical, morphological and chemical properties of thin film <\/span>coatings, surfaces and nanomaterials. NU-Pico is the first SEM nanomechanical testing system in <\/span>the northeast of England and will support unprecedented recent growth in <\/span>biomaterials, renewable energy materials, civil engineering materials and smart <\/span>materials and surfaces research at Northumbria University and provide a <\/span>game-changing nanomechanical facility for the region and beyond.<\/span><\/p>\n

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NU-Pico has been developed with user engagement, ease of service, seamless integration and sustainability in mind, to provide an enabling platform for academic and industrial researchers to perform high speed mechanical property mapping of material surfaces (surface hardness, Young\u2019s modulus, compression, tension, fatigue, adhesion etc.), while using SEM capabilities to perform simultaneous high resolution surface imaging, chemical mapping, 3D surface profiling and phase distribution studies. <\/span><\/p>\n

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NU-Pico can also operate as a stand-alone nanomechanical testing system capable of high-speed mechanical property mapping for users not requiring the additional SEM capabilities. Moreover, custom made modules are capable of transforming NU-Pico into a powerful bio-indenter capable of studying the surfaces of soft and biological matter like biomaterials, biopolymers, functional biocomposites and hydrogels.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The NMT04 system<\/strong> is an in-situ SEM nanomechanical testing system that provides unmatched precision for analysing materials at the micro- and nanoscale. It boasts exceptional resolution, repeatability and dynamic response, making it ideal for nanoindentation of metals, ceramics, thin films, and micro-scale structures like metamaterials and MEMS, while enabling correlative structural and chemical analysis using SEM, EDX and EBSD techniques. The NMT04 also features expandable capabilities to enable applications such as scratch testing, micro-compression testing, tensile testing of thin films or nanowires, and fracture testing of micro-beams.<\/span><\/p>

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For more information about the NMT04 system please visit: https:\/\/nanoindentation.oxinst.com\/products\/nmt04<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The i0<\/strong>4 system <\/b>is a stand-alone high-resolution nanomechanical testing system capable of accurately quantifying the mechanical and tribological properties of materials at the micro- and nanoscale. It is optimised for the mechanical testing of metals. ceramics, thin films and coatings, and metamaterials. Typical applications include the measurement of hardness and elastic modulus, mechanical property mapping, and additional modules for scratch and SPM imaging.<\/p>

For more information about the i04 system please visit: https:\/\/nanoindentation.oxinst.com\/products\/i04<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About NU-Pico NU-Pico provides a state-of-the-art regional facility for high-speed simultaneous characterisation of the nanomechanical, morphological and chemical properties of thin film coatings, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-183","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout - NU-Pico<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NU-Pico provides a state-of-the-art regional facility for high-speed simultaneous characterisation of the nanomechanical, morphological and chemical properties of thin film coatings, surfaces and nanomaterials. NU-Pico is the first SEM nanomechanical testing system in the northeast of England and will support unprecedented recent growth in biomaterials, renewable energy materials, civil engineering materials and smart materials and surfaces research at Northumbria University and provide a game-changing nanomechanical facility for the region and beyond.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/nu-pico\/?page_id=183\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About - NU-Pico\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NU-Pico provides a state-of-the-art regional facility for high-speed simultaneous characterisation of the nanomechanical, morphological and chemical properties of thin film coatings, surfaces and nanomaterials. 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