Evaluation of fracture toughness of small volumes by means of cube-corner nanoindentation

In this work, the applicability of the two most commonly used equations for calculating the fracture toughness by nanoindentation is discussed in terms of indenter geometry and indentation crack morphology. These equations are calibrated for Berkovich and cube-corner indenters taking into account the actual indentation crack morphology, in order to attain a more reliable estimation of fracture toughness in small material volumes by nanoindentation.