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Novel ultra nanoindentation method with extremely low thermal drift: Principle and experimental results

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

J. Nohava ,
N.X. Randall  and
N. Conté
J. Nohava
Affiliation:
CSM Instruments SA, Rue de la Gare 4, Peseux CH-2034, Switzerland
N.X. Randall*
Affiliation:
CSM Instruments Inc., Needham, Massachusetts 02494
N. Conté
Affiliation:
CSM Instruments SA, Rue de la Gare 4, Peseux CH-2034, Switzerland
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: ra@csm-instruments.com
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Abstract

Despite active development over the past 15 years, contemporary nanoindentation methods still suffer serious drawbacks, particularly long thermal stabilization and thermal drift, which limit the duration of the measurements to only a short period of time. The presented work introduces a novel ultra nanoindentation method that uses loads from the μN range up to 50 mN, is capable of performing long-term stable measurements, and has negligible frame compliance. The method is based on a novel patented design, which uses an active top referencing system. Several materials were used to demonstrate the performance of the method. The measurements with hold at maximum load confirm extremely low levels of instrument thermal drift. The presented Ultra Nanoindentation Tester opens new possibilities for testing thin films and long-term testing, including creep of polymers at high resolution without the need of long thermal stabilization.

Keywords

Elastic propertiesHardnessNanoindentation
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , March 2009 , pp. 873 - 882
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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