High temperature nanoindentation enables studying not only material properties at service temperatures but also the fundamental rate controlling deformation mechanisms in materials which could greatly aid alloy design efforts. It is an emerging field with significant advances in instrumentation, calibration, and experimental protocols reported in the past couple of years. Performing stable and accurate measurements at elevated temperatures holds the key for small scale testing of materials at elevated temperatures. This publication reports a novel high temperature vacuum nanoindentation system that utilizes active surface referencing and non-contact heating to enable low drift measurements up to 800 °C. In particular, thermal drift minimization protocols based on temperature matching and load-hold segment drift measurements have been described that result in very low thermal drift rates. This work is expected to pave the way for stable, reliable and long duration nanoindentation tests at high temperatures.
Multiscale Materials Testing Research Group