Mechanical properties using depth sensing

Mechanical Properties Using Depth Sensing Nanoindentation... 

Depth-sensing nanoindentation is one of the primary tools for nanomechanical mechanical properties measurements. Major advantages to this technique over AFM include (1) simultaneous measurement of force and displacement (2) perpendicular tip-sample approach and (3) well-modeled mechanics for dynamic measurements. Also, the ability to quantitatively infer contact area during force-displacement measurements provides a very useful approach to explore adhesion mechanics and models. Disadvantages relative to AFM include lower force resolution, as well as far lower spatial resolution, both from the larger tip radii employed and a lack of sample positioning and imaging capabilities provided by piezoelectric scanners. 

The measurement of local mechanical properties is an important step in understanding of the macroscopic behavior of multiphase materials. The indentation hardness test is probably the simplest method of measuring the mechanical properties of materials. Figure 12.2b shows the evolution of the microhardness as a function of the thermal treatment temperature of a Nasicon sample. The use of load-controlled depth-sensing hardness testers which operate in the (sub)micron range enables the study of each component of the composite more precisely. 

Experimental techniques most commonly used to probe the plastic properties of thin film materials involve direct tensile loading of either a freestanding film or a film deposited onto a deformable substrate material, microbeam bending of films on substrates, substrate curvature measurement or instrumented depth-sensing nanoindentation. Sahent features of these methods, as well as specific examples of the adaptation of these methods for the study of mechanical properties in thin films, are briefly addressed in the following subsections. 

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