Due to the difficulty of performing uniaxial tensile testing, the strengths of graphene and its grain boundaries have been measured in experiments by nanoindentation testing. From a series of molecular dynamics simulations, we find that the strength measured in uniaxial simulation and the strength estimated from the nanoindentation fracture force can differ significantly. Fracture in tensile lo...

Trichloroalkylsilanes readily form self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on mica surfaces. The present work uses scanning probe methods (atomic force microscopy (AFM), chemical force microscopy (CFM) and nanoindentation) to study aspects of the assembly process and the properties of some short chain forms of these self-assembled monolayers. The deposition of propyltrichlorosilane (CH3CH2CH2SiCl3, PT...

Nanoindentation processes in single crystal Ag thin film under different crystallographic orientations and various indenter widths are simulated by the quasicontinuum method. The nanoindentation deformation processes under influences of crystalline anisotropy and indenter size are investigated about hardness, load distribution, critical load for first dislocation emission and strain energy unde...

After sliding contact of a hard spherical counterface on a metal surface, the resulting wear scar possesses a complex microstructure consisting of dislocations, dislocation cells, ultrafine or nanocrystalline grains, and material that has undergone dynamic recovery. There remains a controversy as to the mechanical properties of the tribolayer formed in this wear scar. To investigate the propert...

3 Julia Deuschle Mechanics of Soft Polymer Indentation 189 pages, 67 figures, 8 tables Abstract Nanoindentation has become a fast and reliable technique for the mechanical characterization of engineering materials. The applicability of this technique to small or confined volumes and the subμN and subnm resolution of the instruments are unique features in the field of mechanical testing and make...