Interface Mechanical Strength and Elastic Constants Calculations via Nano Impact and Nanomechanical Raman Spectroscopy

Interfaces are ubiquitous in important natural and manmade materials. Research evidence has shown that interface chemistry, structure, and thickness together strongly influence material microstructure and mechanical properties. The focus of the present work is on presenting an experiment based theoretic advancement to predict thickness dependent elastic properties of materials interfaces by treating the interfaces and the area around them in a material as an elastic continuum. The experiments are based on the nanomechanical Raman spectroscopy (NMRS) developed by authors earlier with a capability to simultaneously measure stress components in orthogonal directions during an in-situ nanomechanical loading. An analytical model is developed based on boundary conditions of interface to predict thickness dependent interface elastic constants. The interface elastic constants are compared with the relations provided in literature.