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Instrumented indentation microscope: A powerful tool for the mechanical characterization in microscales

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Abstract

An instrumented indentation microscope was constructed and applied to the measurements of the Meyer hardness and the elastic modulus of several engineering materials ranging from ductile metals to brittle ceramics. Because of the in situ optical observation and determination of the indentation contact area that is synchronized to the indentation load versus depth relation, the mechanical properties determined on the indentation microscope are precise and reliable without any undesirable approximations and assumptions required for estimating the contact area. It is also demonstrated that the instrumented indentation microscope is capable of determining in a quantitative manner the in situ contact profiles of impression (sinking-in/piling-up profiles). The present work suggests that the instrumented indentation microscope will be a powerful tool in the science and engineering of indentation contact mechanics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science, Toyohashi University of Technology, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi, 441-8580, Japan

    M. Sakai & N. Hakiri

  2. Research Institute of Instrumentation Frontier, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Shimo-shidami, Moriyama-ku, Nagoya, 463-8560, Japan

    T. Miyajima

Authors
  1. M. Sakai
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  2. N. Hakiri
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  3. T. Miyajima
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Correspondence to M. Sakai.

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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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Sakai, M., Hakiri, N. & Miyajima, T. Instrumented indentation microscope: A powerful tool for the mechanical characterization in microscales. Journal of Materials Research 21, 2298–2303 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2006.0276

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2006.0276

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