Experimental evaluation of nanoindentation as a technique for measuring the hardness and Young's modulus of Zircaloy-2 sheet material

Experiments have been performed on a Zircaloy-2 sheet material to evaluate nanoindentation as a technique for measuring the Young's modulus and hardness of the nuclear material. Room temperature transverse and longitudinal mechanical properties of an unirradiated Zircaloy-2 sheet material were measured with nanoindentation. The results were compared with those of tensile testing and Vickers microindentation obtained on the same material. Anisotropy evaluated with the conventional methods of microhardness measurement and tensile testing could be accurately confirmed by the nanoindentation measurement technique. The results show that the nanoindentation technique can be used to measure the Young's modulus and hardness of small-volume samples of the material. The constraint factor, employed for converting hardness to yield strength, has also been determined and is reported for the material.