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Nanoindentation strain-rate jump tests for determining the local strain-rate sensitivity in nanocrystalline Ni and ultrafine-grained Al

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Abstract

A nanoindentation strain-rate jump technique has been developed for determining the local strain-rate sensitivity (SRS) of nanocrystalline and ultrafine-grained (UFG) materials. The results of the new method are compared to conventional constant strain-rate nanoindentation experiments, macroscopic compression tests, and finite element modeling (FEM) simulations. The FEM simulations showed that nanoindentation tests should yield a similar SRS as uniaxial testing and generally a good agreement is found between nanoindentation strain-rate jump experiments and compression tests. However, a higher SRS is found in constant indentation strain-rate tests, which could be caused by the long indentation times required for tests at low indentation strain rates. The nanoindentation strain-rate jump technique thus offers the possibility to use single indentations for determining the SRS at low strain rates with strongly reduced testing times. For UFG-Al, extremely fine-grained regions around a bond layer exhibit a substantial higher SRS than bulk material.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding of the German Research Council, which, within the framework of its “Excellence Initiative” supports the Cluster of Excellence “Engineering of Advanced Materials” at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg and the support of “Galvano 21” by the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung.

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  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Institute 1: General Materials Properties, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058, Erlangen, Germany

    Verena Maier, Karsten Durst, Johannes Mueller, Björn Backes, Heinz Werner Höppel & Mathias Göken

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  1. Verena Maier
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  2. Karsten Durst
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  3. Johannes Mueller
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  4. Björn Backes
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Correspondence to Karsten Durst.

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Maier, V., Durst, K., Mueller, J. et al. Nanoindentation strain-rate jump tests for determining the local strain-rate sensitivity in nanocrystalline Ni and ultrafine-grained Al. Journal of Materials Research 26, 1421–1430 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.156

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