Abstract
In situ transmission electron microscopy was used to study, in real time, the sub-surface deformation taking place in Cu-Be alloy during nanoindentation. A twinned region of the material was indented with a sharp tungsten tip in a specially developed transmission electron microscopy (TEM) holder. A flexible hinge-based force sensor was used to measure the force on the indenter, and the force-displacement curve for the tip was obtained by tracking the tip in the sequential images of a TEM video of the indentation process. Step-like structures ~50 nm in size resulting from the tip surface roughness were observed to generate clusters of dislocations in the sample when they come in contact with the softer Cu-Be. With this setup, the forces and the mean pressure associated with such an individual deformation event in a nanostructured TEM sample were measured.
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Bobji, M.S., Pethica, J.B. & Inkson, B.J. Indentation mechanics of Cu-Be quantified by an in situ transmission electron microscopy mechanical probe. Journal of Materials Research 20, 2726–2732 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2005.0332
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2005.0332