Micromechanical testing

Nanoindenter

Nanoindentation is a non-destructive method that can be used to determine the hardness and elastic modulus of small volumes of material such as thin films and also bulk specimens.

In nanoindentation, the depth of penetration of a diamond indenter tip or a spherical indenter is measured along with the prescribed load. After careful calibration, hardness and elastic modulus of the specimen material can be calculated from the loading/unloading curves. The nanoindenter UMIS is equipped with the indentation system, an optical and atomic force microscope and the data acquisition and control system.