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Indenter tip radius effect on the Nix–Gao relation in micro- and nanoindentation hardness experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2004

S. Qu ,
Y. Huang ,
W.D. Nix ,
H. Jiang ,
F. Zhang  and
K.C. Hwang
S. Qu
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Y. Huang*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
W.D. Nix
Affiliation:
Department of Material Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
H. Jiang
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
F. Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
K.C. Hwang
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: huang9@uiuc.edu
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Abstract

Nix and Gao established an important relation between microindentation hardnessand indentation depth. Such a relation has been verified by many microindentation experiments (indentation depths in the micrometer range), but it does not always hold in nanoindentation experiments (indentation depths approaching the nanometer range). We have developed a unified computational model for both micro- and nanoindentation in an effort to understand the breakdown of the Nix–Gao relation at indentation depths approaching the nanometer scale. The unified computational model for indentation accounts for various indenter shapes, including a sharp, conical indenter, a spherical indenter, and a conical indenter with a spherical tip. It is based on the conventional theory of mechanism-based strain gradient plasticity established from the Taylor dislocation model to account for the effect of geometrically necessary dislocations. The unified computational model for indentation indeed shows that the Nix–Gao relation holds in microindentation with a sharp indenter, but it does not hold in nanoindentation due to the indenter tip radius effect.

Keywords

HardnessMicroindentationNanoindentation
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 19 , Issue 11 , November 2004 , pp. 3423 - 3434
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

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