SEDL / STP / STP889-EB / STP32956S

Use of the Indentation Size Effect on Microhardness for Materials Characterization

Sargent, PM
Research assistant, University of Cambridge, Cambridge,

Pages: 15    Published: Jan 1985

Download this paper for $25 PDF (208K)          View License Agreement
Abstract

This paper describes several different physicochemical mechanisms that produce an indentation size effect on microhardness. The mechanisms are illustrated with reference to published data. A simple quantitative model for surface layer effects is presented, and its relevance to chemomechanical effects on ceramics is discussed.

A well-behaved empirical function describing some indentation size effects is introduced, and its advantages are discussed. It is used in a new method of graphically presenting microhardness data which is presented here for the first time. This “error-ellipsoid” diagram not only is visually compact and statistically rigorous but is based on a new physically meaningful parameter, the “10-μm hardness.”