Finite element simulation of wedge indentation

A finite element simulation of frictionless wedge indentation of a copper strip has been carried out under plane strain conditions. The problem was first modelled using an one-pass contact algorithm. The difficulties associated with using this method to model wedge indentation problems are explained. An alternative procedure which alleviates some of the problems associated with the one-pass contact algorithm is proposed for modelling frictionless wedge indentation. Also, a re-meshing procedure which has to be carried out when the distortion of the elements around the indenter becomes significant, is discussed. A sample problem involving indentation of a 4 mm copper strip by a rigid wedge indenter has been modelled and the results are compared with experimental and theoretical results.

Studies on indentation fracture toughness on ceramic and ceramic composite using acoustic emission technique

This paper is aimed at investigating the acoustic emission activities during indentation toughness tests on an alumina based wear resistant ceramic and 25 wt% silicon carbide whisker (SIC,) reinforced alumina composite. It has been shown that the emitted acoustic emission signals characterize the crack growth during loading. and unloading cycles in an indentation test. The acoustic emission results indicate that in the case of the composite the amount of crack growth during unloading is higher than that of loading, while the reverse is true in case of the wear resistant ceramics. Acoustic emission activity observed in wear resistant ceramic is less than that in the case of composite. An attempt has been made to correlate the acoustic emission signals with crack growth during indentation test.

Effect of porosity on the indentation behaviour of nanoporous alumina films

Anodising aluminium in an acid electrolyte results in a porous alumina film. The pores are uniformly distributed and their structure can be controlled by varying the anodising parameters. In this study, the pore structure of the anodic alumina films is varied systematically by varying the anodising time and a subsequent pore widening chemical etch. The indentation behaviour of the resulting film is studied using a depth sensing nanoindenter. The hardness of the films was found to be decreasing with decreasing solid area fraction. Understanding the deformation behaviour of nanoporous alumina would help tailoring the mechanical properties by tuning the geometry.

Effect of Dilatation on the Elasto-Plastic Response of Bulk Metallic Glasses Under Indentation

Elasto-plastic response of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) follows closely the response of granular materials through pressure dependent (or normal stress) yield locus and shear stress induced material dilatation. On a micro-structural level, material dilatation is responsible for stress softening and formation of localized shear band, however its influence on the macro-scale flow and deformation is largely unknown. In this work, we systematically analyze the effect of material dilatation on the gross indentation response of Zr-based BMG via finite element simulation. The strengthening/softening effect on the load-depth response and corresponding stress-strain profiles are presented in light of differences in elastic-plastic regimes under common indenters. Through comparison with existing experimental results, we draw conclusions regarding selection of suitable dilatation parameters for accurately predicting the gross response of BMGs

Rotation field in wedge indentation of metals

A study is made of the rotation field in wedge indentation of metals using copper as the model material system. Wedges with apical angles of 60 and 120 are used to indent annealed copper, and the deformation is mapped using image correlation. The indentation of annealed and strain-hardened copper is simulated using finite element analysis. The rotation field, derived from the deformation measurements, provides a clear way of distinguishing between cutting and compressive modes of deformation. Largely unidirectional rotation on one side of the symmetry line with small spatial rotation gradients is characteristic of compression. Bidirectional rotation with neighboring regions of opposing rotations and locally high rotation gradients characterizes cutting. In addition, the rotation demarcates such characteristic regions as the pile-up zone in indentation of a strain-hardened metal. The residual rotation field obtained after unloading is essentially the same as that at full load, indicating that it is a scalar proxy for plastic deformation as a whole.

Numerical simulation of nano-indentation on rough surfaces

Nano-indentation is a technique used to measure various mechanical properties like hardness, Young's modulus and the adherence of thin films and surface layers. It can be used as a quality control tool for various surface modification techniques like ion-implantation, film deposition processes etc. It is important to characterise the increasing scatter in the data measured at lower penetration depths observed in the nano-indentation, for the technique to be effectively applied. Surface roughness is one of the parameters contributing for the scatter. This paper is aimed at quantifying the nature and the amount of scatter that will be introduced in the measurement due to the roughness of the surface on which the indentation is carried out. For this the surface is simulated using the Weierstrass-Mandelbrot function which gives a self-affine fractal. The contact area of this surface with a conical indenter with a spherical cap at the tip is measured numerically. The indentation process is simulated using the spherical cavity model. This eliminates the indentation size effect observed at the micron and sub-micron scales. It has been observed that there exists a definite penetration depth in relation to the surface roughness beyond which the scatter is reduced such that reliable data could be obtained.

Further evidence for room temperature, indentation-induced nanocrystallization in a bulk metallic glass

Room temperature nanoindentation experiments, employing two different pyramidal (Berkovich and cube-corner) indenters, were performed on a Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) to critically examine the possibility of indentation-induced nanocrystallization in BMGs. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy images obtained from high angle annular dark field ( HAADF) and high resolution (HR) modes clearly indicate to the occurrence of nanocrystallization. Pronounced nanocrystallite formation in the case of sharper cube-corner indenter suggests that the structural transformation is favored by the high strains introduced during nanoindentation. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Deformation field in indentation of a granular ensemble

An experimental study has been made of the flow field in indentation of a model granular material. A granular ensemble composed of spherical sand particles with average size of 0.4 mm is indented with a flat ended punch under plane-strain conditions. The region around the indenter is imaged in situ using a high-speed charge-coupled device (CCD) imaging system. By applying a hybrid image analysis technique to image sequences of the indentation, flow parameters such as velocity, velocity gradient, and strain rate are measured at high resolution. The measurements have enabled characterization of the main features of the flow such as dead material zones, velocity jumps, localization of deformation, and regions of highly rotational flow resembling vortices. Implications for validation of theoretical analyses and applications are discussed.

Indentation size effect and shear transformation zone size in a bulk metallic glass in two different structural states

The existence of an indentation size effect (ISE) in the onset of yield in a Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) is investigated by employing spherical-tip nanoindentation experiments. Statistically significant data on the load at which the first pop-in in the displacement occurs were obtained for three different tip radii and in two different structural states (as-cast and structurally relaxed) of the BMG. Hertzian contact mechanics were employed to convert the pop-in loads to the maximum shear stress underneath the indenter. Results establish the existence of an ISE in the BMG of both structural states, with shear yield stress increasing with decreasing tip radius. Structural relaxation was found to increase the yield stress and decrease the variability in the data, indicating ``structural homogenization'' with annealing. Statistical analysis of the data was employed to estimate the shear transformation zone (STZ) size. Results of this analysis indicate an STZ size of similar to 25 atoms, which increases to similar to 34 atoms upon annealing. These observations are discussed in terms of internal structure changes that occur during structural relaxation and their interaction with the stressed volumes in spherical indentation of a metallic glass. (C) 2012 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Manifestation of intermediate phase in mechanical properties: Nano-indentation studies on Ge-Te-Si bulk chalcogenide glasses

Nano-indentation studies have been undertaken on bulk Ge15Te85-xSix glasses (0 <= x <= 9), to estimate hardness, H and elastic modulus, E. It is found that E and H increase initially with the increase in the atomic percent of Si. Further, a plateau is seen in the composition dependence of E and H in the composition range 2 <= x <= 6. It is also seen that the addition of up to 2 at% Si increases the density rho of the glass considerably; however, further additions of Si lead to a near linear reduction in rho, in the range 2 <= x <= 6. Beyond x=6, rho increases again with Si content. The variation of molar volume V-m brings out a more fascinating picture. A plateau is seen in the intermediate phase suggesting that the molecular structure of the glasses is adapting to keep the count of constraints fixed in this particular phase. The observed variations in mechanical properties are associated with the Boolchand's intermediate phase in the present glassy system, in the composition range 2 <= x <= 6, suggested earlier from calorimetric and electrical switching studies. The present results reveal rather directly the existence of the intermediate phase in elastic and plastic properties of chalcogenide glasses. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Temperature dependence of indentation recovery ratios in austenitic and martensitic shape memory alloys

Instrumented microindentation (IM) on two Ni-Ti shape memory alloys (SMAs), where one is austenitic and the other is martensitic at room temperature, were conducted from 40 to 150 degrees C. Results show that the depth and work recovery ratios, eta(d) and eta(w) respectively, are complementary to each other. While eta(d) decreases gradually with temperature for austenite, it drops markedly for the martensite in the martensite-to-austenite transformation regime. These results affirm the utility of IM for characterizing SMAs.

Combining indentation and diffusion couple techniques for combinatorial discovery of high temperature shape memory alloys

We demonstrate the possibility of accelerated identification of potential compositions for high-temperature shape memory alloys (SMAs) through a combinatorial material synthesis and analysis approach, wherein we employ the combination of diffusion couple and indentation techniques. The former was utilized to generate smooth and compositionally graded inter-diffusion zones (IDZs) in the Ni-Ti-Pd ternary alloy system of varying IDZ thickness, depending on the annealing time at high temperature. The IDZs thus produced were then impressed with an indenter with a spherical tip so as to inscribe a predetermined indentation strain. Subsequent annealing of the indented samples at various elevated temperatures, T-a, ranging between 150 and 550 degrees C allows for partial to full relaxation of the strain imposed due to the shape memory effect. If T-a is above the austenite finish temperature, A(f), the relaxation will be complete. By measuring the depth recovery, which serves as a proxy for the shape recovery characteristic of the SMA, a three-dimensional map in the recovery temperature composition space is constructed. A comparison of the published Af data for different compositions with the Ta data shows good agreement when the depth recovery is between 70% and 80%, indicating that the methodology proposed in this paper can be utilized for the identification of promising compositions. Advantages and further possibilities of this methodology are discussed.

Deformation field heterogeneity in punch indentation

Plastic heterogeneity in indentation is fundamental for understanding mechanics of hardness testing and impression-based deformation processing methods. The heterogeneous deformation underlying plane-strain indentation was investigated in plastic loading of copper by a flat punch. Deformation parameters were measured, in situ, by tracking the motion of asperities in high-speed optical imaging. These measurements were coupled with multi-scale analyses of strength, microstructure and crystallographic texture in the vicinity of the indentation. Self-consistency is demonstrated in description of the deformation field using the in situ mechanics-based measurements and post-mortem materials characterization. Salient features of the punch indentation process elucidated include, among others, the presence of a dead-metal zone underneath the indenter, regions of intense strain rate (e. g. slip lines) and extent of the plastic flow field. Perhaps more intriguing are the transitions between shear-type and compression-type deformation modes over the indentation region that were quantified by the high-resolution crystallographic texture measurements. The evolution of the field concomitant to the progress of indentation is discussed and primary differences between the mechanics of indentation for a rigid perfectly plastic material and a strain-hardening material are described.

Role of interface curvature on stress distribution under indentation for ZrN/Zr multilayer coating

Contact damage in curved interface nano-layeredmetal/nitride (150 (ZrN)/10 (Zr) nm) multilayer is investigated in order to understand the role of interface morphology on contact damage under indentation. A finite element method (FEM) model was formulated with different wavelengths of 1000 nm, 500 nm, 250 nm and common height of 50 nm, which gives insight on the effect of different curvature on stress field generated under indentation. Elastic-plastic properties were assigned to the metal layer and substrate while the nitride layer was assigned perfectly elastic properties. Curved interface multilayers show delamination along the metal/nitride interface and vertical cracks emanating from the ends of the delamination. FEM revealed the presence of tensile stress normal to the interface even under the contact, along with tensile radial stresses, both present at the valley part of the curve, which leads to vertical cracks associated with interfacial delamination. Stress enhancement was seen to be relatively insensitive to curvature. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Deformation field evolution in indentation of a porous brittle solid

An experimental study of plane strain wedge indentation of a model porous brittle solid has been made to understand the effect of indentation parameters on the evolution of the deformation field and the accompanying volume change. A series of high-speed, high-resolution images of the indentation region and simultaneous measurements of load response were captured through the progression of the indentation process. Particle image velocimetry analysis of the images facilitated in situ measurement of the evolution of the resulting plastic zone in terms of incremental material displacement (velocity), strain rate, strain and volume change (e.g., local pore collapse). These measurements revealed initiation and propagation of flow localizations and fractures, as well as enabled estimate of volume changes occurring in the deformation zone. The results were directly compared with theoretical estimates of indentation pressure and deformation zone geometry and were used to validate a modified cavity expansion solution that incorporates effects of volume changes in the plastic zone. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.