This book contains contributions from leading researchers in biomechanics, nanomechanics, tribology, contact mechanics, materials science and applications on various experimental techniques including atomic force microscopy (AFM) for studying soft, biomimetic and biological materials and objects. Biologists, physicists, researchers applying methods of contact mechanics and researchers testing materials using indentation techniques along with many other applied scientists will find this book a useful addition to their libraries. Moreover, several reviews in this book are written as introductions to several important and rather sophisticated research areas such as depth-sensing indentation, studying of biological cells by AFM probes, mechanics of adhesive contact and contact between viscoelastic (hereditary elastic) solids. The book containing new theoretical models, results of experimental studies and numerical simulations, along with reviews of above mentioned areas of contact mechanics in application to biological systems, would be beneficial for researchers in many areas of biology, medicine, engineering, mechanics and biomimetics.  

Feodor M. Borodich graduated from Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University in 1979. He was awarded Diploma in Mechanics and Applied Mathematics (equiv. to M.Sc.), and later degrees of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (equiv. to Ph.D.), and Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (D.Sc.) by the same University in 1979, 1984 and 1990 respectively. In 2016 he was awarded by Honorary Doctor of Science degree of V.A. Belyi Metal-Polymer Research Institute (DSc Hon), National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for his contribution to Contact Mechanics and Tribology. To improve his knowledge in Engineering, he studied also at Faculty of Constructions of All-Union Extra-Mural Civil Engineering Institute (Open University, Moscow) and he was awarded Diploma with distinction in Civil Engineering (equiv. to MEngSc) in 1985. In 1995 he received a teaching certificate (grade: Professor in Applied Mathematics) from the State Council of Russian Federation for Higher Education. In 2018 he was elected as a Foreign Member of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (Mining and Metallurgical Section) for his contribution in the field of depth-sensing indentation and testing of material properties, especially in application to coals. In 2001-2003 he was a visiting professor at Northwestern University (USA). Since January 2004 he works as a Professor at Cardiff School of Engineering. Currently he is the Head of Cardiff NANOScience NanoEngineering cross-disciplinary Group (NANOSNEG).
Xiaoqing Jin received his B.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Tongji University and M.S. in Solid Mechanics from Tsinghua University in China. Then he went to the United States to continue his pursuit of knowledge in the broad field of solid mechanics under the guidance of Prof. Leon M. Keer. In 2006, he was awarded his Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Northwestern University. After that, he worked at the same university as postdoctoral fellow and was then promoted to research associate. In 2013, he returned to China and joined Mechanical Engineering faculty of Chongqing University. The major areas of his research expertise include but are not limited to contact mechanics, fracture mechanics, micromechanics, and tribology. He was named the 2014 recipient of the Captain Alfred E. Hunt Memorial award by the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Board of Directors, for authoring the best paper dealing with the field of lubrication or an allied field. He is currently working as a professor in the College of Aerospace Engineering at Chongqing University, and has been appointed chair of the department of Engineering Mechanics since 2018.