• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Home
  • People
  • Research
  • Tribology
  • Publications
  • News
  • Contact Us

MicroTriboDynamics Laboratory

Texas A&M University College of Engineering

Nanoindentation

The hardness of a material is very useful in predicting how a material will perform while interacting with another and also in understanding why a material performed the way it did. Many times, especially in micro/nano-scale systems, it is beneficial to know the hardness near the surface as it is most likely different from the bulk of the material. This can be accomplished with nano-indentation which involves indenting a material with a diamond tip at a very low load and sensing the depth of the indentation. Images of indentations on a thin wire produced with a scanning electron microscope are shown below.

This is an image four consecutive indentations spaced 20 µm apart. Note that a human hair is roughly 50-80 µm in diameter. (Yu et al., 2004)

A closer look at an indentation (Yu et al., 2004)

The hardness is determined by dividing the maximum load by the projected area of the indentation. Nano-indentation is also used to determine the elastic modulus of materials.

Back to Experimental Methodology

© 2018–2023 MicroTriboDynamics Laboratory Log in

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station Logo
  • College of Engineering
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • State of Texas
  • Open Records
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Statewide Search
  • Site Links & Policies
  • Accommodations
  • Environmental Health, Safety & Security
  • Employment