Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) form a family of porous inorganic-organic ordered hybrid materials which have generated huge interest in the scientific community. Whilst sorption, magnetic, catalytic and drug delivery properties have been largely documented, the basic mechanical properties of these materials have not received as much interest. However, the fact that several structures are highly flexible may be of interest to exploit as dampers or springs as an alternative to previous work carried out on hydrophobic silica based materials. The advantage of MOFs being that the almost infinite possibility to modulate the structure and chemical/physical properties of these materials means that the mechanical properties can equally be tuned. The aim therefore of this fundamental project is twofold : 1) To study the thermodynamic and mechanical properties of selected flexible MOFs in view of (i) establishing pore volume phase diagrams as a function of pressure and temperature, (ii) determining the transition energies between the various phases and (iii) characterizing the structural behaviour under operating conditions up to high temperature and moderate pressure, to compare with theoretical calculations; 2) To evaluate the possibility of using these materials for mechanical storage of energy as dampers or springs. This challenging interdisciplinary project that involves the synthesis of materials, the characterization of the properties of interest and modelling, will be conducted by a subtle combination of innovative experimental tools and advanced molecular simulation approaches, which is expected to yield breakthrough in this domain. It will also bring microscopic insight into the mechanism in play during the phase transition under thermal and mechanical stimuli.