• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.145-152
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• 2004

Depth-sensing indentation is wifely used for evaluation of mechanical properties of thin films. It is generally accepted that the most significant source of uncertainty in nanoindentation measurement is the geometry of the indenter tip. Therefore the successful application of the technique requires accurate calibration of the indenter tip geometry. The direct measurement of geometry of a Berkovich indenter was determined using a atomic force microscope. The indentation geometrical calibration of contact area was performed by analyzing the indenter tip profile. The equations of area functions were proposed for nanoscale thin films..

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.129-137
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• 2013

A force calibration of a nanoindenter and a 3D morphology observation of indenters were carried out in this study. A microbalance calibrated with standard weights was used for measuring the loads generated by a nanoindenter. The indentation load could be calibrated from the ratio of measured and generated loads and the first contact load also could be detected from the microbalance data. By analyzing atomic force microscopy images of two indenters, curvature radii of apexes were determined by $19.71{\pm}3.03$ and $1043.94{\pm}50.91$ nm, respectively, for the nearly new indenter A and the severly worn indenter B. Corresponding bluntness depths were estimated by 1.22 and 64.56 nm for the both indenters by overlapping their profiles on the perfect pyramidal shape. In addition, nanoindentation curves obtained from a fused silica reference material with the both indenters showed a depth difference corresponding to the bluntness depth difference along the indentation depth axis. By shifting amounts of the bluntness depths along the horizontal axis, whole nanoindentation curves overlapped on themselves and resulted in nanohardness values consistent within 1.11 % without considering the complex indenter area function of each indenter.