Advanced Nanoindentation in Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past three decades, nanoindentation has emerged as an indispensable tool to characterize small-scale mechanical properties of a wide range of materials and nanostructures, such as integrated circuits, biological tissues, and porous materials. Considerable progress has been made since the mid-1980s to expand the capabilities of nanoindenter hardware and experiment methods. This enables investigators to measure thin film adhesion strength, fracture toughness, strain rate sensitivity, viscoelasticity, and creep deformation behaviors. Researchers also used nanoindentation techniques to examine deformation behaviors that are specimen size-dependent, such as dislocation starvation hardening in single-crystal pillars and the softening effect in nano-crystalline pillars. Furthermore, in situ SEM and TEM nanoindenters allow researchers to visualize mechanical deformations in real time. This Special Issue on Advanced Nanoindentation in Materials will provide a forum for researchers from the academic and industrial community to present the latest advances in the field of nanoindentation and small-scale mechanical properties of materials. In addition to metal, glass, and ceramic, this issue will include manuscripts focused on biological specimens. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Small scale facture
• Nanoscale plasticity and creep
• Size-dependent deformation phenomena
• Deformation of biological cells
• Mechanical properties of cellular and sub-cellular components
• Novel mechanical property characterization techniques
• New modeling methods
• Environmentally controlled nanoindentation
• In situ SEM and TEM indentation

Prof. Ting Tsui
Prof. Matt Pharr
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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