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Determining the instantaneous modulus of viscoelastic solids using instrumented indentation measurements

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Abstract

Instrumented indentation is often used in the study of small-scale mechanical behavior of “soft” matters that exhibit viscoelastic behavior. A number of techniques have recently been proposed to obtain the viscoelastic properties from indentation load–displacement curves. In this study, we examine the relationships between initial unloading slope, contact depth, and the instantaneous elastic modulus for instrumented indentation in linear viscoelastic solids using either conical or spherical indenters. In particular, we study the effects of “hold-at-the-peak-load” and “hold-at-the-maximum-displacement” on initial unloading slopes and contact depths. We then discuss the applicability of the Oliver–Pharr method (Refs. 29, 30) for determining contact depth that was originally proposed for indentation in elastic and elastic-plastic solids and recently modified by Ngan et al. (Refs. 20–23) for viscoelastic solids. The results of this study should help facilitate the analysis of instrumented indentation measurements in linear viscoelastic solids.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials and Processes Laboratory, General Motors Research and Development Center, Warren, Michigan, 48090, USA

    Yang-Tse Cheng

  2. Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 02912, USA

    Wangyang Ni

  3. Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100080, People’s Republic of China

    Che-Min Cheng

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  1. Yang-Tse Cheng
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  2. Wangyang Ni
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Correspondence to Yang-Tse Cheng.

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This author was an editor of this journal during the review and decision stage. For the JMR policy on review and publication of manuscripts authored by editors, please refer to http://www.mrs.org/publications/jmr/policy.html.

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Cheng, YT., Ni, W. & Cheng, CM. Determining the instantaneous modulus of viscoelastic solids using instrumented indentation measurements. Journal of Materials Research 20, 3061–3071 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2005.0389

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2005.0389

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