Kinetic features of the deformation of solids in nano-and microscopic volumes

The deformation dynamics of nanovolumes in crystalline, quasicrystalline, and amorphous solids is studied experimentally using continuous nanoindentation with a resolution of 0.1 nm. The elastic limits of some materials are determined in a nanocontact region. A jumplike transition to a plastic flow (which is equivalent to a drop in yield in uniaxial macroscopic tests) is revealed and studied. The dynamics and statistics of an unstable plastic flow in strain-aging alloys are analyzed. The specific features of a local stress-strain curve associated with a phase transformation under an indenter and with microcrack nucleation are revealed. The load-carrying ability of a material upon nanocontact loading is shown to be many times its macroscopic yield strength and to approach the theoretical ultimate strength even in plastic materials. The relaxation processes occurring in submicrovolumes after unloading are found to induce an elastic aftereffect that is much larger than that in macroscopic tests. In Si and Ge single crystals, the effect of a jumplike increase in the cracking resistance with the strain rate is detected.