Michael V. Swain

Professor Michael Swain is an internationally recognized research leader in the areas of Dental and Biomaterials research, nano-mechanics of materials and the role of disease state on the properties of biological tissue.Michael Swain has made significant contributions in a range of research areas over the past thirty years. In the 1970’s he made many significant contributions in the area of indentation deformation and fracture of brittle materials. During the 1980’s he was part of the development of advanced ceramic materials and made significant contributions in the microstructure property relations of partially stabilised zirconia ceramics as well as ceramic composites. During the 1990’s he was involved with the development of nano-indentation and its ability to characterise the properties of materials.

His mpublications are as follows:
Angker L, Nockolds C, Swain MV, Kilpatrick N, Correlating the mechanical properties to the mineral content of carious dentine - a comparative study using an ultra-micro indentation system (UMIS) and SEM-BSE signals, Archives of Oral Biology 49 (5): 369-378 (2004) [16]. (This relatively recent paper has provided the basis for quantifying the relationship between mineral content and mechanical properties of teeth).

Kahler, W., Swain, M.V. & Moule, A., Hydration effects on dentine fracture toughness and crack propagation, J of Biomechanics 36 229–237 (2003) [21](This paper had implications not only for the role of moisture on the toughness of dentine but also questioned previous literature on the toughening mechanisms).
Mahoney E, Holt A, Swain MV, Kilpatrick N, The hardness and modulus of elasticity of primary molar teeth: an ultra-micro-indentation study, Journal of Dentistry 28 (8): 589-594 (2000). [63] (This was one of the first papers to use nano-indentation to investigate primary teeth and was part of a study to investigate the role of acidic beverages on the mechanical properties of teeth).
Weppelmann, E. R.; Field, J. S., and Swain, M. V. Observation, analysis, and simulation of the hysteresis of silicon using ultra-micro-indentation with spherical indenters. Journal of Materials Research. 1993; 830-840 [73](For the first time it was possible to identify the contact pressures for phase trans-formations in Si and clarified a topic that sharp indenters were unable to quantify).
J. S. Field and M.V. Swain, A simple predictive model for spherical indentation. J of Materials Research 8, 297-306 (1993) [171] (This paper opened up the field of nano-indentation to explore the elastic plastic behaviour of materials).
Swain, M.V. Shape memory behaviour in partially stabilized zirconia ceramics. Nature. 1986; vol.322 (6076): 234-236 [21](Although shape memory behaviour has been identified in metallic materials it was not considered possible in brittle ceramics).
Garvie, R. C., and Swain, M. V., Thermodynamics of the tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation in constrained zirconia crystals: Part 1. In the absence of an applied stress field. J of Materials Sci. 1985; 1193-1200 [89](This paper investigated the role of the surrounding matrix on the ability of small zirconia grains to transform).