Modeling of the effects of athermal flow strength and activation energy for dislocation glide on the nanoindentation creep of nickel thin film at room temperature

Nanoindentation creep behaviour of nickel at room temperature has been modeled based on the obstacle-controlled dislocation glide mechanism. Using the model, the effects of two important materials parameters viz. the activation free energy required by dislocation to overcome an obstacle without any aid from external stress, ΔF and the athermal flow strength, τ0, which is the flow strength of solids at 0 K are systematically studied. It has been found that ΔF plays a dominant role in room temperature creep properties of nickel. The role of ΔF is particularly dominant in determining the time dependent deformation. On the other hand, role of τ0 is more crucial in the case of instantaneous deformation.