The Compare between Two Micro-Nanohardness Testing Methods

In the micro-nanohardness testing methods of materials,nanoindentation method can obtain load-displacement curves,and some related algorithms based on these curves can determine the contact area and hardness.In another method,residual area of indentation can be obtained by atomic force microscope(AFM),and hardness is determined by residual area and peak load.The micro-nanohardness experiments are completed on the plastical material-single crystal aluminum and the brittle material-single crystal silicon by both methods.Through comparison and analysis,the two methods have advantages and disadvantages respectively.The hardness values obtained by the two methods all have indentation size effect(ISE),but the ISE of second method is more obvious than that of the first.