Mechanical properties and deformation of the vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays (VA-CNTs) has been examined with large-displacement indentation tests inside a scanning electronic microscope (SEM). The in-situ indentation allows for establishment of the load-depth responses and real-time observations of the deformation processes. Under a cylindrical, flat indenter, the VA-CNTs exhibit ela...

We conducted the measurement of the hardness-depth relationship of NiTi shape memory alloy with a sharp Berkovich indenter. Different from most ductile metals, NiTi reacts to the mechanical load of indentation through phase transition underneath the indentation tip. We found that the hardness decreases rapidly with the increase of the indentation depth and eventually approaches a constant. To u...

The flux penetration near a semicircular indentation at the edge of a thin superconducting strip placed in a transverse magnetic field is investigated. The flux front distortion due to the indentation is calculated numerically by solving the Maxwell equations with a highly nonlinear E j law. We find that the excess penetration can be significantly 50% larger than the indentation radius r0, in c...

A major concern affecting the efficient use of carbon fibre reinforced composite laminates in the aerospace industry is the low velocity impact damage which may be introduced accidentally during manufacture, operation or maintenance of the composite structures. It is widely reported that the contact behavior of composite laminates under low-velocity impact can be obtained under quasi-static loa...

The recently developed Reference Point Indentation (RPI) allows the measurements of bone properties at the tissue level in vivo. The goal of this study was to compare the local anisotropic behaviour of bovine plexiform bone measured with depth sensing micro-indentation tests and with RPI. Fifteen plexiform bone specimens were extracted from a bovine femur and polished down to 0.05µm alumina pas...

The introduction of controlled gradients in plastic properties is known to influence the resistance to damage and cracking at contact surfaces in many tribological applications. In order to assess potentially beneficial effects of plastic property gradients in tribological applications, it is essential first to develop a comprehensive and quantitative understanding of the effects of yield stren...

Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to model the dynamics of indentation and the resulting damage for a ( i i l ) surface of a (1 × 1) hydrogen terminated dmmond ttp interacting with the ( l i d surface of both a (I × 1) hydrogen terminated dmmond crystal and a non-hydrogen terminated dmmond crystal. In both cases, mdentation can result m a non-adhesive (~ e . elastic) or an adhesive ...

Indentation is a remarkably flexible mechanical test due to its relative experimental simplicity. Coupled with advances in instrument development, ease of implementation has made indentation a ubiquitous research tool for a number of different systems across size scales (nano to macro) and scientific/engineering disciplines. However, the exploration of different materials systems and the potent...

Load-depth curves of an unpoled Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) film composite as a function of temperature were measured by nanoindentation technique. Its reduce modulus and hardness were calculated by the typical Oliver-Pharr method. Then the true modulus and hardness of the PZT film were assessed by decoupling the influence of substrate using methods proposed by Zhou et al. and Korsunsky et al...

Atomic force microscope-(AFM-) based indentation tests were performed to examine mechanical properties of parallel singlecrystal silicon nanolines (SiNLs) of sub-100-nm line width, fabricated by a process combining electron-beam lithography and anisotropic wet etching. The SiNLs have straight and nearly atomically flat sidewalls, and the cross-section is almost perfectly rectangular with unifor...