Plane strain cylindrical indentation of functionally graded half-plane with exponentially varying shear modulus in the presence of residual surface tension

154Smoother transition and relatively lesser tensile magnitude of the in-plane normal stress σyy along the surface x=0 in the vicinity of contact edge is observed during cylindrical indentation of elastic half-plane with exponential graded shear modulus (k > 0) in the presence of residual surface tension (S=/0). Hence it is speculated that chances of crack formation are lesser during sub-micron level indentation as compared to micro or macro indentation in such graded half-plane.