Micro-contact analysis for the initial contact in nanoindentation tests

The force–depth behavior of initial contact between a Berkovich indenter and S45C steel specimens has been examined. The indenter is considered as a rigid sphere with a radius of 300 nm since the blunt tip is dominant under initial contact. The S45C steel specimens were prepared to have different surface characteristics. The specimen surface profile was decomposed by Fourier cosine series; then the statistical evaluation for force and area of micro-contact was proposed. The influence of surface roughness on the real contact area and thus the contact pressure arising in the indentation test can be investigated from the proposed analyses. The force–depth responses obtained by the proposed method revealed good agreement with the experimental results for the prepared specimens with their different surface characteristics. The evaluated results of the force fractions in the elastic, elastoplastic, and plastic deformation regions showed that the S45C steel specimens had fully plastic deformation under the initial contact load of 5 μN. The average values of real contact pressure evaluated by the current method rapidly reached the hardness value. Through the proposed method, the dominant radii of summits were evaluated and their relation to the indentation depth was demonstrated.