Werkstofftechnikseminar - Prof. George Pharr

Prof. George Pharr - Texas A&M University

PROBING THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS AT SMALL SCALES WITH NANOINDENTATION

George M. Pharr

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Texas A&M University

College Station, TX 77843-3003  USA

Nanoindentation has gained widespread acceptance as a tool for measuring the mechanical properties of thin films, thin surface regions, and small volumes of material. Hardness and elastic modulus are the most routinely measured properties, but techniques have also been developed for estimating fracture toughness, yield stress, strain hardening, creep, and residual stress. Many of these can be determined from indentations only a few nanometers deep. In this presentation, an overview of the general measurement capabilities of nanoindentation is given along with simple descriptions of the mechanical and physical principles on which they are based.