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A numerical study of indentation with small spherical indenters

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Abstract

The finite element method for the conventional theory of mechanism-based strain gradient plasticity is used to study the indentation size effect. For small indenters (e.g., radii on the order of 10 µm), the maximum allowable geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density is introduced to cap the GND density such that the latter does not become unrealistically high. The numerical results agree well with the indentation hardness data of iridium. The GND density is much larger than the density of statistically stored dislocations (SSD) underneath the indenter, but this trend reverses away from the indenter. As the indentation depth (or equivalently, contact radius) increases, the GND density decreases but the SSD density increases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China

    Jiang Qin, Xue Feng & Keh-Chih Hwang

  2. Department of Mechanics, Zhejiang University, 310027, Hangzhou, China

    Shaoxing Qu

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Yonggang Huang

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, IL, 60208, Evanston, USA

    Yonggang Huang & Jianliang Xiao

Authors
  1. Jiang Qin
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  2. Shaoxing Qu
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  3. Xue Feng
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  4. Yonggang Huang
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  5. Jianliang Xiao
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  6. Keh-Chih Hwang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xue Feng or Yonggang Huang.

Additional information

Project supported by the National Science Foundation (No. CMS-0084980) and ONR (No. N00014-01-1-0205, program officer Dr. Y.D.S. Rajapakse), and by the Foundation for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of China (FANEDD) (No. 2007B30).

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Qin, J., Qu, S., Feng, X. et al. A numerical study of indentation with small spherical indenters. Acta Mech. Solida Sin. 22, 18–26 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0894-9166(09)60086-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0894-9166(09)60086-0

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