Indentation and scratch testing – experiment and simulation

Abstract

Most modern wear resistant materials feature a multiphase microstructure and the macroscopic
wear behavior is controlled by the local mechanical properties of the single phases. Indentation
testing and in particular nanoindentation allows for the local mechanical characterization of
materials and their phases. This paper addresses the determination of important mechanical
parameters such as hardness, Young’s modulus and indentation energy parameters of single
phases in multiphase wear resistant materials. Important influencing factors such as matrix
influence on the indentation results of an embedded hard phase, the indentation-size-effect (ISE),
the effect of crystallographic orientation, and the fracturing behavior of hard phases are addressed.
In addition, the results of scratch tests on the cold work tool steel X210Cr12 and a WC-Co hard
metal are presented in order to investigate aspects of the mechanical behavior under abrasion.
The deformation behavior under indentation and scratch loading was analyzed by scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Besides the experiments
supplementary numerical simulations of indentation and scratching testing with the use of the
Finite-Element-Method (FEM) are presented.