Room temperature nanoindentation creep of hot-pressed B6O

Nanoindentation has become a widely used and versatile means of characterising the near-surface nanomechanical properties of a wide variety of materials. Yet, the nanomechanical properties of the polycrystalline boron suboxide (B6O) material prepared by uniaxial hot-pressing are sparsely known. We recently reported on the nanoindentation profiles, nanoindentation hardness, and elastic modulus determined by using the Oliver–Pharr method. To complement our earlier reports on the analysis of the load–displacement indentation response of hot-pressed B6O and for the first time, we present and discuss results giving an insight into the temporal evolution of the nanoindentation creep behaviour in B6O ceramics.