Measuring and modelling the instrumented indentation (nanoindentation) response of coated systems

We have been determining the ways in which the mechanical properties of coated systems, including those with very thin (<100 nm) coatings, can best be characterized, at the appropriate small spatial scales, using instrumented indentation techniques (IIT). Our approaches have been to critically assess the differing types of sample information available from load–displacement (P–δ) curves, P–δ 2 analyses and P–S 2 data (where S is the contact stiffness). Parallel insights into the deformation mechanics controlling the contact response have been sought using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) and scanning probe microscopy (SPM) to characterize both the detailed appearance of resultant indentations and their underlying deformation structures. Increasingly, many coatings are multilayered and thus there is a need for a modelling approach that can predict the mechanical properties of any proposed multilayer design. Since testing all possible stack sequenc...