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Indentation size effects in hardness of annealed NiB coatings

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Abstract

Nix–Gao’s factor (81/2) was replaced with (4.5Ct2) using variable constraint factor (Ct) for size-dependent analysis of crystalline coatings. Experimental investigations on annealed NiB coating (5 wt% boron) aimed at defense applications involved twelve Berkovich nanoindentation tests (displacements: 500, 1000, and 1500 nm; strain rates: 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.20 s−1). SEM and XRD analyzed cauliflower-type surface morphology and crystallinity. NiB coatings exhibited Intrinsic hardness (H0) of 9.65 ± 0.26 GPa, material characteristic length (h*) of 194.8 ± 10 nm, and elastic modulus (E) of 264 ± 10 GPa. Indentation size effects of these coatings attributed to increased geometrically necessary dislocation density.

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The data presented in this research are obtainable upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to the Director of ARDE and the Vice Chancellor of DIAT (DU) Pune, India, for granting permission to utilize the experimental facilities.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune, 411025, India

    Abhishek Soni & A. Kumaraswamy

  2. AMT Centre, Armament Research and Development Establishment, Pune, 411021, India

    B. Praveen Kumar

  3. Centre for Engineered Coatings, ARCI, Hyderabad, 500005, India

    Nitin P. Wasekar & Krishna Valleti

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  1. Abhishek Soni
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  2. A. Kumaraswamy
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  3. B. Praveen Kumar
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  4. Nitin P. Wasekar
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  5. Krishna Valleti
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Contributions

Abhishek Soni: Conceptualization, theoretical analysis, sample preparation, experimentation, data analysis, first draft preparation. A. Kumaraswamy and Praveen Kumar B.: Conceptualization, sample preparation, review & editing of first draft, supervision. Nitin P. Wasekar and Krishna Valleti: Experimentation, data collection, review & editing of first draft.

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Correspondence to A. Kumaraswamy or B. Praveen Kumar.

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Soni, A., Kumaraswamy, A., Praveen Kumar, B. et al. Indentation size effects in hardness of annealed NiB coatings. MRS Communications (2024). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-024-00560-5

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