Nanoindentation near the edge

Whenever a nanoindent is placed near an edge, such as the free edge of the specimen or heterophase interface intersecting the surface, the elastic discontinuity associated with the edge produces artifacts in the load–depth data. Unless properly handled in the data analysis, the artifacts can produce spurious results that obscure any real trends in properties as functions of position. Previously, we showed that the artifacts can be understood in terms of a structural compliance, Cs, which is independent of the size of the indent. In the present work, the utility of the SYS (Stone, Yoder, Sproul) correlation is demonstrated in its ability to remove the artifacts caused by Cs. We investigate properties: (i) near the surface of an extruded polymethyl methacrylate rod tested in cross section, (ii) of compound corner middle lamellae of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) surrounded by relatively stiff wood cell walls, (iii) of wood cell walls embedded in a polypropylene matrix with some poorly bonded wood–matrix interfaces, (iv) of AlB2 particles embedded in an aluminum matrix, and (v) of silicon-on-insulator thin film on substrate near the free edge of the specimen.

Geometry- and velocity-constrained cohesive zones and mixed-mode fracture/adhesion energy of interfaces with periodic cohesive interactions

We show that the mixed-mode fracture/adhesion energy of an interface with periodically varying cohesive interactions generally depends on the size of the cohesive zone near the tip of a crack along the interface: it is equal to the average cohesive energy of the interface, if the cohesive zone size is much larger than the period of cohesive interaction but becomes the peak value of the local cohesive energy when the opposite is true. It is also interesting that the cohesive zone size can be strongly influenced by the geometry and velocity of the crack. As an example of geometry-constrained cohesive zone, we consider peeling of a thin film on substrate and show that the cohesive zone size under 90° peeling scales with the bending stiffness of the film, while that under 0° peeling scales with the tension stiffness of the film. As an example of a velocity-constrained cohesive zone, we consider crack propagation along an interfacial layer of weak molecular bonds joining two elastic media and show that the cohesive zone size can be altered by an order of magnitude over feasible regimes of crack velocity. These results suggest possible strategies to control fracture/adhesion strength of interfaces in both engineering and biological systems.