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Nanoindentation of high-purity vapor deposited lithium films: The elastic modulus

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Abstract

Nanoindentation has been used to measure the elastic modulus of 5 and 18 μm thick high-purity vapor deposited polycrystalline lithium films at 31 °C. Over indentation depths ranging from 150 to 1100 nm, the modulus is found to vary with film thickness from 9.8 GPa ± 11.9% to 8.2 GPa ± 14.5%. These results are well within the range of lithium’s orientation dependent elastic modulus, which spans approximately 3.1 to 21.4 GPa. The measured values may also indicate (111) and (100) texture for the 5 and 18 μm thick films, respectively. The potential effects of pileup and surface contamination are found to be negligible if any at all. Small but discernible changes in damping capability near the free surface may provide insight into the subsurface defect structure and the potential for localized heating. Numerous experimental challenges are addressed and key metrics are used to validate the measured elastic modulus.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was sponsored jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Advanced Battery Materials Research program (managed by Tien Duong) and by TARDEC, the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center. E.G.H. is grateful for start-up funding from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Michigan Technological University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, 49931, USA

    Erik G. Herbert & Stephen A. Hackney

  2. Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37830, USA

    Nancy J. Dudney

  3. International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500005, India

    P. Sudharshan Phani

Authors
  1. Erik G. Herbert
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  2. Stephen A. Hackney
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  3. Nancy J. Dudney
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  4. P. Sudharshan Phani
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Correspondence to Erik G. Herbert.

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This paper has been selected as an Invited Feature Paper.

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Herbert, E.G., Hackney, S.A., Dudney, N.J. et al. Nanoindentation of high-purity vapor deposited lithium films: The elastic modulus. Journal of Materials Research 33, 1335–1346 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2018.83

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2018.83

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