Nanoindentation simulation on single crystal copper by quasi-continuum method

Considering that nanoindentation size effect under very small nano scale could not be effectively investigated by traditional experimental methods, this paper proposed to use quasi-continuum (QC) method to establish a multi-scale simulation model for nanoindentation process on single crystal copper at very small depth, below 20 Å. And different-size small indenters were adopted in this paper with their radiuses ranging from 2 nm to 10 nm. The simulation results showed that the contact stiffness did not show indentation size effect, but the values fluctuated on a horizontal line; that the nano-hardness showed obvious indentation size effect.