Area Function for Nanoindentation at High Temperatures

It becomes important to measure mechanical properties of local area of materials because of downsizing of industrial materials, and the fracture of materials often starts at the nanoscale defects. Therefore, the measurement of hardness of the local area of materials is one of key technologies to develop new materials. Nanoindentation is the depth sensing indentation method and can measure the mechanical properties of nanoscale area of materials. The hardness of materials under the controlled environment like high temperature is a big issue in energy or environment industries. Therefore, it becomes important to measure high temperature mechanical properties of nanoscale area of materials by nanoindentation. However, the shape of indenter may change when an indenter contacts to the material surface at high temperatures, and the nanoindentation at high temperatures may lead to inaccuracy of measurements. Nanoindentation does not measure indented are directly but converts the indentation depth to the indented area by area function. In order to correctly convert the indentation depth to the indented area, it is necessary to derive the area function of indented area at high temperatures. In this report, the area function is proposed that considers the change of indenter shape during repeating contact at heated materials. By using this proposed area function, nanoindentation hardness and the reduced modulus of sapphire were obtained at 303K, 473K, 673K, 873K and 1073K successfully. The nanoindentation can be used at high temperatures, if this proposed area function is used.