Dr Anastasiia Mikhalchan, Senior Research Associate, gave an invited talk at the Low-Density Materials Workshop for Particle Accelerator Applications, organized by CERN together with the University of Bath. For Anastasiia, this was the second time she participated in the workshop since her visit to CERN in 2023 (more details here).

This year, the workshop was held in Bath, UK, and reunited researchers from the Beam Instrumentation Department at CERN and specialists in lightweight and nanostructured materials to address the emerging challenges in accelerator technology. The programme covered the areas of CNT-based and other low-density systems and the latest developments in their production, characterization and simulation combining knowledge in materials science and accelerator physics. The workshop brought together the experts in the CNT macromaterials, including Professors Philippe Poulin (CNRS, France), James A. Elliott (University of Cambridge, UK), and Matteo Pasquali (Founding Director of the Carbon Hub & Rice University, USA).

Dr Mikhalchan gave an overview of the multi-modal in situ mechanical characterization of CNT materials in her talk entitled ¨CNT macromaterials: challenges in testing and properties¨. She introduced the nanomechanical tensile tests coupled with in situ TEM of individual CNT bundles, discussed the challenges in nanoscale instrumentation she encountered and the perspectives of testing CNT bundles of 10 nm diameter, and showcased the methodology to study nano to macroscale defects in CNT networks in correlation with the damage tolerance and beam instrumentation applications.