Characterization of plastically graded nanostructured material : Part I. The theories and the inverse algorithm of nanoindentation

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22 Scopus Citations
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Author(s)

  • H. H. Ruan
  • A. Y. Chen
  • J. Lu

Detail(s)

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)559-569
Journal / PublicationMechanics of Materials
Volume42
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - May 2010
Externally publishedYes

Abstract

Nanostructured materials have attracted extensive research interest in the past decades due to their exceptionally high yielding strength. Among different processing technologies, one way is to induce surface nanostructures with the consequence of gradually changed microstructures and mechanical properties from surface to interior. In order to quantify in detail the through-thickness plastic behavior, the instrumented nanoindentation associated with the FEM-based inverse algorithm was utilized. We start with the analytical definition of the representative strain and its bounding theorem. The prevailing FEM-based inverse algorithm to extract the representative stress was then examined based on the Ludwik material model. A linear relationship between the recovery energy ratio and the elastic representative strain for different hardening coefficients was further noted, which allows the explicit calculation of the hardening coefficient. The whole flow behavior of the linear hardening material can then be quantified by a single Berkovich indentation. The computational algorithm is well verified by numerical cases and has been successfully applied to the surface mechanical attrition treated stainless steel (part II). © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research Area(s)

  • Finite element modelling (FEM), Mechanical properties, Nanoindentation, Plastically graded material (PGM), Representative strain, Surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT)