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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011
Effective indenter concept was introduced by Pharr and Bolshakov to explain nanoindentation unloading curves. This paper shows that the contact stiffness under a uniform pressure distribution is 57% higher than what is given by the fundamental relation. This is due to the fact that there is no physical indenter that gives a uniform pressure distribution during elastic contact, and the fundamental relation used in nanoindentation data analysis does not apply.