Combinatorial material mechanics: High-throughput polymer synthesis and nanomechanical screening

Combinatorial materials science requires parallel advances in materials characterization. A high-throughput nanoscale synthesis/nanomechanical profiling approach capable of accurately screening the mechanical properties of 1,700 photopolymerizable materials (see Figure, scale bar: 100 mu m) within a large, discrete polymer library is presented. This approach enables rapid correlation of polymer composition, processing, and structure with mechanical performance metrics.