A load frame for in situ tomography at PETRA III

A load frame for in situ mechanical testing is developed for the microtomography end stations at the imaging beamline P05 and the high-energy material science beamline P07 of PETRA III at DESY, both operated by the Helmholtz- Zentrum Geesthacht. The load frame is fully integrated into the beamline control system and can be controlled via a feedback loop. All relevant parameters (load, displacement, temperature, etc.) are continuously logged. It can be operated in compression or tensile mode applying forces of up to 1 kN and is compatible with all contrast modalities available at IBL and HEMS i.e. conventional attenuation contrast, propagation based phase contrast and differential phase contrast using a grating interferometer. The modularity and flexibility of the load frame allows conducting a wide range of experiments. E.g. compression tests to understand the failure mechanisms in biodegradable implants in rat bone or to investigate the mechanics and kinematics of the tessellated cartilage skeleton of sharks and rays, or tensile tests to illuminate the structure-property relationship in poplar tension wood or to visualize the 3D deformation of the tendonbone insertion. We present recent results from the experiments described including machine-learning driven volume segmentation and digital volume correlation of load tomography sequences.