Mechanical properties of biological materials are increasingly explored via nanoindentation testing. This paper reviews the modes of deformation found during indentation: elastic, plastic, viscous and fracture. A scheme is provided for ascertaining which deformation modes are active during a particular indentation test based on the load-displacement trace. Two behavior maps for indentation are ...

This paper summarizes recent efforts to evaluate the potential for the formation of a metal matrix nanocomposite (MMNC) by processing two commercial bulk metals of aluminum and magnesium alloy through high-pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature. After significant evolutions in microstructures, successful fabrication of an Al-Mg hybrid system was demonstrated by observing unique microstructu...

The effects of nanoscale pores on the strength and ductility of porous Cu46Zr54 metallic glasses during nanoindentation and uniaxial compression tests are modelled and investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In the MD simulations, atomistic amorphous samples were digitally prepared through fast quenching from the liquid states of copper and zirconium alloy. In both of the nanoin...

At 100-nanometer length scale, the mesoscopic structure of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) plays a critical role in determining the macroscopic material properties, such as porosity. In order to explore the mesoscopic structure of C-S-H, we employ two effective techniques, nanoindentation test and molecular dynamics simulation. Grid nanoindentation tests find different porosity of C-S-H in cem...

Nanoindentation has proved to be a technique capable of elucidating the mechanical properties of solid surfaces. Along with recent studies [1,2], our investigation deals with the initial stages of plastic deformation in a solid. In previous works [3,4] we have recognized and characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) the generation around a nanoindentation trace in Au(001) of two type...

A systematic study of the mechanical deformation and failure of transparent ceramic aluminum oxynitride (AlON) has been conducted using a depth-sensitive nanoindentation technique combined with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. Although discrete displacement bursts appear in the load–depth profiles at high applied forces, a detectable high-pressure phase transition ...

The study of dislocation nucleation in close-packed metals by nanoindentation has recently attracted much interest. Here, we address the peculiarities of the incipient plasticity in body centered cubic bcc metals using low index Ta single crystals as a model system. The combination of nanoindentation with high-resolution atomic force microscopy provides us with experimental atomic-scale informa...