Pii: S1359-6454(99)00095-6

ÐThe response of lead zirconate titanate and barium titanate piezoelectric ceramics to spherical microindentation was investigated. Force vs penetration depth curves obtained from instrumented indentation reveal that the indentation sti€ness depends on the material condition (i.e. poled vs unpoled) and the type of indentor (i.e. electrically conducting vs insulating). Good agreement was found between the experimental results and predictions of an analytical model of Giannakopoulos and Suresh (1999) for the spherical indentation of a transversely isotropic piezoelectric material. A parametric analysis was conducted to identify key material properties that in ̄uence the indentation response. An error analysis was performed so as to assess the in ̄uence of the variabilities in constituent properties on the scatter in the measured indentation sti€ness. This indentation method has been shown to o€er a new methodology for characterizing some properties of piezoelectric materials. Advantages and limitations of such a technique are discussed. # 1999 Acta Metallurgica Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.