THREE-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT STUDY ON THE NANOINDENTATION PROCESS OF HYDRATED NACRE

Summary. The nanoindentation process of hydrated nacre has been simulated using three- dimensional finite element method. The constitutive relation is based on Barthelat et al's (Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 2007, 55: 306-337) test results. The influence of the maximal loading on the simulation process is taken into account. The nanoindentation process and hardness of nacre are compared with other experimental results. It is shown that the hardness from finite element simulation is always higher than that of experiment and it gradually approaches to the experimental one with the increase of the maximal loading.