Anisotropy in homogeneous dislocation nucleation by nanoindentation of single crystal Cu

This paper addresses the anisotropy in homogeneous dislocation nucleation by nanoindentation on different crystallographic surfaces in perfect single crystal Cu. The interatomic potential finite-element model is used to extend the computational cell size to micron-scale for eliminating boundary effects. Simulation results reveal that significant anisotropy exists for the critical indentation depth, the critical resolved shear stress and the critical indentation hardness. The calculated indentation moduli for the (0 0 1), (0 1 1), (1 1 1) surfaces fit the experimental data well.