Microhardness studies of sulfamic acid single crystal

Vicker's microhardness study of (100), (010) and (001) faces of a non-linear optical crystal sulfamic acid have been reported. Single crystals of sulfamic acid have been grown by slow evaporation method. The load dependence of the Vickers microhardness of sulfamic acid crystal were investigated and analyzed from the stand point of various theoretical models. Crystal samples in a, b and c-axes exhibit reverse indentation effect which is best described by Meyer's law, Hays-Kendall's approach and proportional specimen resistance (PSR) models. The negative values of load dependent quantities in Hays-Kendall's approach and PSR model suggest that the origin of indentation size effect is associated with the process of relaxation of indentation stresses.