Journal article
Micromechanical characterization of shales through nanoindentation and energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry
YB Veytskin, VK Tammina, CP Bobko, PG Hartley, MB Clennell, DN Dewhurst, RR Dagastine
Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment | ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV | Published : 2017
Abstract
Shales are heterogeneous sedimentary rocks which typically comprise a variable mineralogy (including compacted clay particles sub-micrometer in size), silt grains, and nanometer sized pores collectively arranged with transversely isotropic symmetry. A detailed understanding of the micro- and sub-microscale geomechanics of these minerals is required to improve models of shale strength and stiffness properties. In this paper, we propose a linked experimental-computational approach and validate a combination of grid nanoindentation and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy and Wavelength Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDS/WDS) at the same spatial locations to identify both the nano-mec..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the use of the laboratory facilities at CSIRO Minerals Business Unit in Clayton, and at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Melbourne. Special acknowledgement goes to Dr. Lauren Hyde at the University of Melbourne and Dr. Aaron Torpy at CSIRO Minerals for assistance with instrumentation, as well as to Cameron Davidson at CSIRO Minerals for assistance with sample preparation. Paul Marschall and the National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra, Switzerland) are thanked for supplying the Opalinus Clay samples. The authors acknowledge administration of this project by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission and funding by CSIRO Energy.