From October 24th to 25th, the 3rd National Symposium on Microsample Mechanical Testing Methods and the First China Mechanical Testing Instrument and Equipment Innovation Exchange Conference were held by the Fuchun River in Tonglu, Zhejiang Province. This conference attracted nearly 300 representatives from 87 units across the country, including academicians, experts, scholars, postgraduate students, and mechanical instrument equipment enterprises. They gathered together to have in-depth exchanges on the theories, technologies, methods, standards in the field of non-destructive, micro-damage, and micro-sample mechanical testing, as well as the innovative progress and future development trends of advanced mechanical testing instruments and equipment.
As a co-organizer of this conference and the undertaking unit of the working group on mechanical property test methods for Metal Material Micro-samples, our school was led by President Xuan Fuzhen, and a delegation including Academician Tu Shandong, Professor Guan Kaishu, and Professor Zhou Guoyan attended the conference.
Photo caption: Group photo of the conference delegates
At the opening ceremony, President Xuan Fuzhen delivered a speech for the conference. He reviewed the development process of mechanical property testing technology from macroscopic and destructive to microscopic, micro-destructive and even future non-destructive directions, and shared the long-term accumulation and working foundation of our school in material mechanics testing, especially in micro-sample technology. He also announced that the next conference would be hosted by East China University of Science and Technology.
Photo caption: Principal Xuan Fuzhen delivered a speech and gave a report at the conference
President Xuan Fuzhen delivered a keynote speech titled Intensity and Lifespan Prediction Based on Reductionism: Challenges and Reflections. He pointed out that strength and lifespan is a timeless research topic, which originated from the demands of engineering facility construction and matured during the period of Newtonian mechanics and the steam engine Industrial Revolution. Entering the new industrial revolution era dominated by quantum micro-nano, big data and integrated circuits, it is necessary to re-examine the basic definitions of strength and lifespan under the framework of reductionism, and then construct new theoretical research paradigms, experimental methods and technical solutions that adapt to the new era.
During the conference, Professor Zhou Guoyan from our school delivered an invited report titled Research on Creep Performance of Micro Samples Based on Crystal Plasticity, and Teacher Wang Qiongqi gave a report titled Technological Progress and Engineering Application of Micro-Loss Sampling Machines.
The conference was held concurrently with the annual meeting of the Working Group on Mechanical Property Test Methods of Metal Materials Micro-Samples of the Sub-Technical Committee on Mechanical and Process Property Test Methods of the National Technical Committee for Steel Standardization in 2025. More than 50 committee members and expert representatives from over 40 enterprises, research institutes, colleges and universities, and testing institutions across the country attended the meeting. Professor Tu Shandong, the head of the working group from our university, summarized the situation of the working group in 2025, introduced the work arrangements for 2026, and presented appointment letters to the new committee members.
Photo caption: Representatives from the Microsample Mechanical Testing Method Working Group and the CMIC Committee attending the meeting
The meeting heard the application report of Professor Zhou Guoyan from our university on the 2026 Micro-sample Mechanical Test Methods Seminar and the Innovation Exchange Conference of Mechanical Test Instruments and Equipment in China. It was unanimously agreed that the conference would be hosted by East China University of Science and Technology, and the venue would be set in Shanghai. It is planned to be held around September next year. The annual meeting of the working group also organized the argumentation of In-situ Test Methods for Metallic Materials - Part 2: Fatigue test Methods, In-situ test methods for metallic Materials - Part 3: Creep test Methods, and Plate and Bar Microspecimens of metallic Materials - Part 2 A series of new standard project proposals for micro-sample mechanical test methods such as Creep Test Method and Creep Test Method for Small Impact Rods of Metallic Materials were proposed, and the Tensile Testing of Metallic Materials - Part 5: The phased progress of national standard projects such as Test Specifications for Microsamples and Test Methods for Creep of Microsamples for Bending of Metal Materials Beams has laid a solid foundation for ing the high-quality development of standardization work in microsample mechanical tests.
Photo caption: Academician Tu Shandong gives a summary report of the working group