High-temperature nanoindentation testing of fused silica and other materials

Abstract This paper describes a new high-temperature stage for small-scale mechanical property testing. This allows the determination of the load-penetration curve of a diamond tip in a temperature range extending from room temperature to 400°C. Both sample and indenter can be heated separately. Indentation curves show that very low thermal drift can be achieved. Nanoindentation results are presented for gold, soda—lime glass, fused silica and a polyimide and compared with existing microscale and bulk mechanical property data where available. Results from fused silica show that its mechanical properties exhibit a completely different temperature dependence from those of soda-lime glass, as expected since fused silica is an anomalous glass.