Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T03:44:14.144Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Novel technique for measuring the mechanical properties of porous materials by nanoindentation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2006

Xi Chen ,
Yong Xiang  and
Joost J. Vlassak
Xi Chen*
Affiliation:
Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027-6699
Yong Xiang
Affiliation:
Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-2901
Joost J. Vlassak
Affiliation:
Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-2901
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: xichen@civil.columbia.edu
Get access

Abstract

A new technique for measuring the elastic-plastic properties of porous thin films by means of nanoindentation is proposed. The effects of porosity on indentation hardness and modulus are investigated through finite element analyses based on the Gurson model for plastic deformation of ductile porous materials. Intrinsic mechanical properties of the thin film are obtained by eliminating both substrate and densification effects. The technique is applied to the special case of a porous, low-permittivity dielectric thin film. The results are in good agreement with those obtained independently using the plane-strain bulge test.

Keywords

FilmHardnessPorosity
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , March 2006 , pp. 715 - 724
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Huang, H.B., Spaepen, F.: Tensile testing of free-standing Cu, Ag and Al thin films and Ag/Cu multilayers. Acta Mater. 48, 3261 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Xiang, Y., Chen, X., Vlassak, J.J.: The plane-strain bulge test for thin films. J. Mater. Res. 20, 2360 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Vlassak, J.J., Nix, W.D.: A new bulge test technique for the determination of Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of thin films. J. Mater. Res. 7, 3242 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Baker, S.P., Nix, W.D.: Mechanical properties of compositionally modulated Au-Ni thin films: Nanoindentation and microcantilever deflection experiments. J. Mater. Res. 9, 3131 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Weihs, T.P., Hong, S., Bravman, J.C., Nix, W.D.: Mechanical deflection of cantilever microbeams—A new technique for testing the mechanical-properties of thin films. J. Mater. Res. 13, 931 (1998).Google Scholar
6.Baker, S.P., Kretschmann, A., Arzt, E.: Thermomechanical behavior of different texture components in Cu thin films. Acta Mater. 49, 2145 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Keller, R.M., Baker, S.P., Arzt, E.: Stress-temperature behaviour of unpassivated thin copper films. Acta Mater. 47, 415 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Oliver, W.C., Pharr, G.M.: An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic-modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments. J. Mater. Res. 7, 1564 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Doerner, M.F., Nix, W.D.: A method for interpreting the data from depth-sensing indentation instruments. J. Mater. Res. 1, 601 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Pharr, G.M.: Measurement of mechanical properties by ultra-low-load indentation. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 253, 151 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Pharr, G.M., Bolshakov, A.: Understanding nanoindentation unloading curves. J. Mater. Res. 17, 2660 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Johnson, K.L.: Contact Mechanics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Hay, J.C., Bolshakov, A., Pharr, G.M.: A critical examination of the fundamental relations used in the analysis of nanoindentation data. J. Mater. Res. 14, 2296 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Chen, X., Vlassak, J.J.: Numerical study on the measurement of thin film mechanical properties by means of nanoindentation. J. Mater. Res. 16, 2974 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Vlassak, J.J., Nix, W.D.: Measuring the elastic properties of anisotropic materials by means of indentation experiments. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 42, 1223 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Tabor, D.: The Hardness of Metals (Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK, 1951).Google Scholar
17.Saha, R., Nix, W.D.: Effects of the substrate on the determination of thin film mechanical properties by nanoindentation. Acta Mater. 50, 23 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Fleck, N.A., Otoyo, H., Needleman, A.: Indentation on porous solids. Int. J. Solids Struct. 29, 1613 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Volinsky, A.A., Vella, J.B., Gerberich, W.W.: Fracture toughness, adhesion and mechanical properties of low-K dielectric thin films measured by nanoindentation. Thin Solid Films 429, 201 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Chen, X., Wang, R., Yao, N., Evans, A.G., Hutchinson, J.W., Bruce, R.W.: Foreign object damage in a thermal barrier system: Mechanisms and simulations. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 352, 221 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Chen, X., He, M.Y., Spitsberg, I., Fleck, N.A., Hutchinson, J.W., Evans, A.G.: Mechanisms governing the high temperature erosion of thermal-barrier coatings used in gas turbines. Wear 256, 735 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Chen, X., Hutchinson, J.W., Evans, A.G.: Simulation of the high temperature impression of thermal-barrier coatings with columnar microstructure. Acta Mater. 52, 565 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Gurson, A.L.: Continuum theory of ductile rupture by void nucleation and growth. I. Yield criteria and flow rules for porous ductile media. J. Eng. Mater. Technol. 99, 2 (1977).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Xiang, Y., Chen, X., Tsui, T.Y., Jang, J.I. and Vlassak, J.J.: Mechanical properties of porous and fully dense low-κ dielectric thin films measured by means of nanoindentation and the plane-strain bulge test technique. J. Mater. Res. 21, 386 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Bückle, H. Use of hardness test to determine other material properties, in The Science of Hardness Testing and Its Research Applications, edited by Westbrook, J.W. and Conrad, H. (American Society for Metals, Metals Park, OH, 1971), p. 453.Google Scholar
26. ABAQUS 5.8 User's Manual (ABAQUS Inc., Pawtucket, RI, 1998).Google Scholar
27.Mesarovic, S.D., Fleck, N.A.: Spherical indentation of elastic-plastic solids. Proc. R. Soc. London A455, 2707 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar