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University of Cambridge

Nanoindentation Under Dynamic Conditions

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Nanoindentation has emerged as a leading technique for the investigation of mechanical properties on small volumes of material. Extensive progress has been made in the last 20 years in refining the nstrumentation of nanoindentation systems and in analysis of the resulting data. Recent development has enabled investigation of materials under several dynamic conditions. The palladium-hydrogen system has a large miscibility gap, where the palladium lattice rapidly expands to form a hydrogen-rich β phase upon hydrogenation. Nanoindentation was used to investigate the mechanical effects of these transformations on foils of palladium. Study of palladium foils, which had been cycled through hydrogenation and dehydrogenation, allowed the extent of the transformed region to be determined. Unstable palladium foils, which had been hydrogenated and were subject to dynamic hydrogen loss, displayed significant hardening in the regions which were not expected to have transformed. The reason for this remains unclear. Impact indentation, where the indenter encounters the sample at relatively high speeds, can be used to probe the strain rate dependence of materials. By combining impact indentation and elevated temperature indentation, the strain rate dependence of the superelasticity of nickel-titanium was probed over a range of temperatures. Similar trends in elastic energy ratios with temperature were observed with the largest elastic proportions occurring at the Austenite finish transformation temperature. Multiple impact and scratch indentation are two modes of indentation which are thought to approximate erosive and abrasive wear mechanisms, respectively. These were utilised to investigate the wear resistance of several novel coatings formed by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) of Ti-6Al4-V. Multiple impact indentation results appear to subjectively rank the erosive wear performance of both ductile and brittle materials. Comparison of normalised performance of coating systems on aluminium in abrasive wear to scratch hardness showed similar degrees of resistance.

Degree

thesis:*
Name dc:type.qualificationname
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
Doctoral
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
University of Cambridge
Year dc:date.issued
2009

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Wheeler, Jeffrey M

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Language dc:language
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
DOI dc:identifier.doi
https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.14247
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/218320

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Cambridge University
Base URL
api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
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citation

Wheeler, Jeffrey M. Nanoindentation Under Dynamic Conditions. Doctoral thesis, University of Cambridge, 2009. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.14247