A review of rock macro-indentation:Theories,experiments,simulations,and applications

Rock macro-indentation plays a fundamental role in mechanical rock breaking for various rock engineering application,such as drilling,tunneling,cutting,and sawing.Over the past decades,extensive research has been conducted to understand the indentation mechanisms and responses through various approaches.This review aims to provide an overview of the current status and recent advancements in theories,experiments,numerical simulations,and applications of macro-indentation in rock engineering.It starts with elaborating on the mechanisms of macro-indentation,followed by a discussion of the merits and limitations of commonly used models.Influence factors and their effects on indentation test results are then summarized.Various numerical simulation methods for rock macro-indentation are highlighted,along with their advantages and disadvantages.Subsequently,the applications of indentation tests and indentation indices in characterizing rock properties are explored.It reveals that compression-tension,compression-shear,and composite models are widely employed in rock macroindentation.While the compression-tension model is straightforward to use,it may overlook the anisotropic properties of rocks.On the other hand,the composite model provides a more comprehensive description of rock indentation but requires complex calculations.Additionally,factors,such as indentation rate,indenter geometry,rock type,specimen size,and confining pressure,can significantly influence the indentation results.Simulation methods for macro-indentation encompass continuous medium,discontinuous medium,and continuous-discontinuous medium methods,with selection based on their differences in principle.Furthermore,rock macro-indentation can be practically applied to mining engineering,tunneling engineering,and petroleum drilling engineering.Indentation indices serve as valuable tools for characterizing rock strength,brittleness,and drillability.This review sheds light on the development of rock macro-indentation and its extensive application in engineering practice.Specialists in the field can gain a comprehensive understanding of the indentation process and its potential in various rock engineering endeavors.

Indentation behavior of a semi-infinite piezoelectric semiconductor under a rigid flat-ended cylindrical indenter

This paper theoretically studies the axisymmetric frictionless indentation of a transversely isotropic piezoelectric semiconductor(PSC)half-space subject to a rigid flatended cylindrical indenter.The contact area and other surface of the PSC half-space are assumed to be electrically insulating.By the Hankel integral transformation,the problem is reduced to the Fredholm integral equation of the second kind.This equation is solved numerically to obtain the indentation behaviors of the PSC half-space,mainly including the indentation force-depth relation and the electric potential-depth relation.The results show that the effect of the semiconductor property on the indentation responses is limited within a certain range of variation of the steady carrier concentration.The dependence of indentation behavior on material properties is also analyzed by two different kinds of PSCs.Finite element simulations are conducted to verify the results calculated by the integral equation technique,and good agreement is demonstrated.

Study of damage behavior and repair effectiveness of patch repaired carbon fiber laminate under quasi-static indentation loading

Damage caused due to low-velocity impacts in composites leads to substantial deterioration in their residual strength and eventually provokes structural failure.This work presents an experimental investigation on the effects of different patch and parent laminate stacking sequences on the enhancement of impact strength of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers(CFRP)composites by utilising the adhesively bonded external patch repair technique.Damage evolution study is also performed with the aid of Acoustic Emission(AE).Two different quasi-isotropic configurations were selected for the parent laminate,viz.,[45°/45°/0°/0°]s and[45°/0°/45°/0°]s.Quasi Static Indentation(QSI)test was performed on both the pristine laminates,and damage areas were detected by using the C-scan inspection technique.Damaged laminates were repaired by using a single-sided patch of two different configurations,viz.,[45°/45°/45°/45°]and[45°/0°/0°/45°],and employing a circular plug to fill the damaged hole.Four different combinations of repaired laminates with two configurations of each parent and patch laminate were produced,which were further subjected to the QSI test.The results reveal the effectiveness of the repair method,as all the repaired laminates show higher impact resistance compared to the respective pristine laminates.Patches of[45°/0°/0°/45°]configuration when repaired by taking[45°/45°/0°/0°]s and[45°/0°/45°/0°]s as parents exhibited 68%and 73%higher peak loads,respectively,than the respective pristine laminates.Furthermore,parent and patch of configuration[45°/0°/45°/0°]s and[45°/0°/0°/45°],respectively,attain the highest peak load,whereas[45°/45°/0°/0°]s and[45°/45°/45°/45°]combinations possess the most gradual decrease in the load.

Unexpected Twinning and Phase-Transition of the Indentation Standards, Their Transition Energies, and Scientific Dichotomy

The general use of aluminium as an indentation standard for the iteration of contact heights for the determination of ISO-14577 hardness and elastic modulus is challenged because of as yet not appreciated phase-changes in the physical force-depth standard curve that seemed to be secured by claims from 1992. The physical and mathematical analyses with closed formulas avoid the still world-wide standardized energy-law violation by not reserving 33.33% (h2 belief) (or 20% h3/2 physical law) of the loading force and thus energy for all not depth producing events but using 100% for the depth formation is a severe violation of the energy law. The not depth producing part of the indentation work cannot be done with zero energy! Both twinning and structural phase-transition onsets and normalized phase-transition energies are now calculated without iterations but with physically correct closed arithmetic equations. These are reported for Berkovich and cubecorner indentations, including their comparison on geometric grounds and an indentation standard without mechanical twinning is proposed. Characteristic data are reported. This is the first detection of the indentation twinning of aluminium at room temperature and the mechanical twinning of fused quartz is also new. Their disqualification as indentation standards is established. Also, the again found higher load phase-transitions disqualify aluminium and fused quartz as ISO-ASTM 14577 (International Standardization Organization and American Society for Testing and Materials) standards for the contact depth “hc” iterations. The incorrect and still world-wide used black-box values for H- and Er-values (the latter are still falsely called “Young’s moduli” even though they are not directional) and all mechanical properties that depend on them. They lack relation to bulk moduli from compression experiments. Experimentally obtained and so published force vs depth parabolas always follow the linear FN = kh3/2 + Fa equation, where Fa is the axis-cut before and after the phase-transition branches (never “h2” as falsely enforced and used for H, Er and giving incorrectly calculated parameters). The regression slopes k are the precise physical hardness values, which for the first time allow for precise calculation of the mechanical qualities by indentation in relation to the geometry of the indenter tip. Exactly 20% of the applied force and thus energy is not available for the indentation depth. Only these scientific k-values must be used for AI-advises at the expense of falsely iterated indentation hardness H-values. Any incorrect H-ISO-ASTM and also the iterated Er-ISO-ASTM modulus values of technical materials in artificial intelligence will be a disaster for the daily safety. The AI must be told that these are unscientific and must therefore be replaced by physical data. Iterated data (3 and 8 free parameters!) cannot be transformed into physical data. One has to start with real experimental loading curves and an absolute ZerodurR standard that must be calibrated with standard force and standard length to create absolute indentation results. .

Exciting News from Indentations onto Silicon, Copper, and Tungsten

Indentations onto crystalline silicon and copper with various indenter geometries, loading forces at room temperature belong to the widest interests in the field, because of the physical detection of structural phase transitions. By using the mathematically deduced FNh3/2 relation for conical and pyramidal indentations we have a toolbox for deciding between faked and experimental loading curves. Four printed silicon indentation loading curves (labelled with 292 K, 260 K, 240 K and 210 K) proved to be faked and not experimental. This is problematic for the AI (artificial intelligence) that will probably not be able to sort faked data out by itself but must be told to do so. High risks arise, when published faked indentation reports remain unidentified and unreported for the mechanics engineers by reading, or via AI. For example, when AI recommends a faked quality such as “no phase changes” of a technical material that is therefore used, it might break down due to an actually present low force, low transition energy phase-change. This paper thus installed a tool box for the distinction of experimental and faked loading curves of indentations. We found experimental and faked loading curves of the same research group with overall 14 authoring co-workers in three publications where valid and faked ones were next to each other and I can thus only report on the experimental ones. The comparison of Si and Cu with W at 20-fold higher physical hardness shows its enormous influence to the energies of phase transition and of their transition energies. Thus, the commonly preferred ISO14577-ASTM hardness values HISO (these violate the energy law and are simulated!) leads to almost blind characterization and use of mechanically stressed technical materials (e.g. airplanes, windmills, bridges, etc). The reasons are carefully detected and reported to disprove that the coincidence or very close coincidence of all of the published loading curves from 150 K to 298 K are constructed but not experimental. A tool-box for distinction of experimental from faked indentation loading curves (simulations must be indicated) is established in view of protecting the AI from faked data, which it might not be able by itself to sort them out, so that technical materials with wrongly attributed mechanical properties might lead to catastrophic accidents such as all of us know of. There is also the risk that false theories might lead to discourage the design of important research projects or for not getting them granted. This might for example hamper or ill-fame new low temperature indentation projects. The various hints for identifying faked claims are thus presented in great detail. The low-temperature instrumental indentations onto silicon have been faked in two consecutive publications and their reporting in the third one, so that these are not available for the calculation of activation energies. Conversely, the same research group published an indentation loading curve of copper as taken at 150 K that could be tested for its validity with the therefore created tools of validity tests. The physical algebraic calculations provided the epochal detection of two highly exothermic phase transitions of copper that created two polymorphs with negative standard energy content. This is world-wide the second case and the first one far above the 77 K of liquid nitrogen. Its existence poses completely new thoughts for physics chemistry and perhaps techniques but all of them are open and unprepared for our comprehension. The first chemical reactions might be in-situ photolysis and the phase transitions can be calculated from experimental curves. But several further reported low temperature indentation loading curves of silicon were tested for their experimental reality. And the results are compared to new analyses with genuine room temperature results. A lot is to be learned from the differences at room and low temperature.

Mechanism and Method of Testing Fracture Toughness and Impact Absorbed Energy of Ductile Metals by Spherical Indentation Tests

To address the problem of conventional approaches for mechanical property determination requiring destructive sampling, which may be unsuitable for in-service structures, the authors proposed a method for determining the quasi-static fracture toughness and impact absorbed energy of ductile metals from spherical indentation tests (SITs). The stress status and damage mechanism of SIT, mode I fracture, Charpy impact tests, and related tests were frst investigated through fnite element (FE) calculations and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations, respectively. It was found that the damage mechanism of SITs is diferent from that of mode I fractures, while mode I fractures and Charpy impact tests share the same damage mechanism. Considering the diference between SIT and mode I fractures, uniaxial tension and pure shear were introduced to correlate SIT with mode I fractures. Based on this, the widely used critical indentation energy (CIE) model for fracture toughness determination using SITs was modifed. The quasi-static fracture toughness determined from the modifed CIE model was used to evaluate the impact absorbed energy using the dynamic fracture toughness and energy for crack initiation. The efectiveness of the newly proposed method was verifed through experiments on four types of steels: Q345R, SA508-3, 18MnMoNbR, and S30408.

Phase-Transitions at High, Very High, and Very Low Temperatures upon Nano-Indentations: Onset Forces and Transition Energies

This paper describes the phase-transition energies from published loading curves on the basis of the physically deduced FN = k-h3/2 law that does not violate the energy law by assuming h2 instead, as still do ISO-ASTM 14,577 standards. This law is valid for all materials and all “one-point indentation” temperatures. It detects initial surface effects and phase-transition kink-unsteadiness. Why is that important? The mechanically induced phase-transitions form polymorph interfaces with increased risk of crash nucleation for example at the pickle forks of airliners. After our published crashing risk, as nucleated within microscopic polymorph-interfaces via pre-cracks, had finally appeared (we presented microscopic images (5000×) from a model system), 550 airliners were all at once grounded for 18 months due to such microscopic pre-cracks at their pickle forks (connection device for wing to body). These pre-cracks at phase-transition interfaces were previously not complained at the (semi)yearlycheckups of all airliners. But materials with higher compliance against phase- transitions must be developed for everybody’s safety, most easily by checking with nanoindentations, using their physically correct analyses. Unfortunately, non-physical analyses, as based on the after all incredible exponent 2 on h for the FN versus h loading curve are still enforced by ISO-ASTM standards that cannot detect phase-transitions. These standards propagate that all of the force, as applied to the penetrating cone or pyramid shall be used for the depth formation, but not also in part for the pressure to the indenter environment. However, the remaining part of pressure (that was not consumed for migrations, etc.) is always used for the elastic modulus detection routine. That severely violates the energy-law! Furthermore, the now physically analyzed published loading curves contain the phase-transition onsets and energies information, because these old-fashioned authors innocently (?) published (of course correct) experimental loading curves. These follow as ever the physically deduced FN = k-h3/2 relation that does not violate the energy law. Nevertheless, the old-fashioned authors stubbornly assume h2instead of h3/2 as still do ISO-ASTM 14,577 standards according to an Oliver-Pharr publication of 1992 and textbooks. The present work contributes to understanding the temperature dependence of phase-transitions under mechanical load, not only for aviation and space flights, which is important. The physical calculations use exclusively regressions and pure algebra (no iterations, no fittings, and no simulations) in a series of straightforward steps by correcting for unavoidable initial effects from the axis cuts of the linear branches from the above equation exhibiting sharp kink unsteadiness at the onset of phase transitions. The test loading curves are from Molybdenum and Al 7075 alloy. The valid published loading curves strictly follow the FN = k-h3/2 relation. Full applied work, conversion work, and conversion work per depth unit show reliable overall comparable order of magnitude values at temperature increase by 150°C (Al 7075) and 980°C (Mo) when also considering different physical hardnesses and penetration depths. It turns out how much the normalized endothermic phase-transition energy decreases upon temperature increase. For the only known 1000°C indentation we provide reason that the presented loading curves changes are only to a minor degree caused by the thermal expansion. The results with Al 7075 up to 170°C are successfully compared. Al 7075 alloy is also checked by indentation with liquid nitrogen cooling (77 K). It gives two endothermic and one very prominent exothermic phase transition with particularly high normalized phase-transition energy. This indentation loading curve at liquid nitrogen temperature reveals epochal novelties. The energy requiring endothermic phase transitions (already seen at 20°C and above) at 77 K is shortly after the start of the second polymorph (sharply at 19.53 N loading force) followed by a strongly exothermic phase-transition by producing (that is losing) energy-content. Both processes at 77 K are totally unexpected. The produced energy per depth unit is much higher energy than the one required for the previous endothermic conversions. This exothermic phase-transition profits from the inability to provide further energy for the formation of the third polymorph as endothermic obtained at 70°C and above. That is only possible because the very cold crystal can no longer support endothermic events but supports exothermic ones. Both endothermic and exothermic phase-transitions at 77 K under load are unprecedented and were not expected before. While the energetic support at 77 K for endothermic processes under mechanical load is unusual but still understandable (there are also further means to produce lower temperatures). But strongly exothermicphase-transition under mechanical load for the production of new modification with negative energy content (less than the energy content of the ambient polymorph) at very low temperature is an epochal event here on earth. It leads to new global thinking and promises important new applications. The energy content of strongly exothermic transformed material is less than the thermodynamic standard zero energy-content on earth. And it can only be reached when there is no possibility left to produce an endothermic phase-transition. Such less than zero-energy-content materials should be isolated, using appropriate equipment. Their properties must be investigated by chemists, crystallographers, and physicists for cosmological reasons. It could be that such materials will require cooling despite their low energy content (higher stability!) and not survive at ambient temperatures and pressures on earth, but only because we do not know of such negative-energy-content materials with our arbitrary thermodynamic standard zeros on earth. At first one will have to study how far we can go up with temperature for keeping them stable. Thus, the apparently never before considered unprecedented result opens up new thinking for the search of new polymorphs that can, of course, not be reached by heating. Various further applications including cosmology and space flight explorations are profiting from it.

Physical Macrohardness of the Kinetic Indentation of the Material: Function and Universal Unit of Measure (Part 1)

Three directions of development of kinetic indentation methods.Physical-energetic analysis of the indentation force diagram according to ISO 14577.Physical theory and universal criterion for the macrohardness of a material.Model of the physical process,thermomechanical potential,function of the state of the kinetic macroindentation process.Method for determining the physical function and unit of measurement of the kinetic macrohardness of a material.The ratio of the values of the empirical(standard)and physical macrohardness of the material.Physical reason for the appearance of the size effect in empirical indentation methods.The principle of determining the standard value of physical macrohardness.

The Loading Curve of Spherical Indentions Is Not a Parabola and Flat Punch Is Linear

The purpose of this paper is the physical deduction of the loading curves for spherical and flat punch indentations, in particular as the parabola assumption for not self-similar spherical impressions appears impossible. These deductions avoid the still common first energy law violations of ISO 14577 by consideration of the work done by elastic and plastic pressure work. The hitherto generally accepted “parabolas’” exponents on the depth h (“2 for cone, 3/2 for spheres, and 1 for flat punches”) are still the unchanged basis of ISO 14577 standards that also enforce the up to 3 + 8 free iteration parameters for ISO hardness and ISO elastic indentation modulus. Almost all of these common practices are now challenged by physical mathematical proof of exponent 3/2 for cones by removing the misconceptions with indentation against a projected surface (contact) area with violation of the first energy law, because the elastic and inelastic pressure work cannot be obtained from nothing. Physically correct is the impression of a volume that is coupled with pressure formation that creates elastic deformation and numerous types of plastic deformations. It follows the exponent 3/2 only for the cones/pyramids/wedges loading parabola. It appears impossible that the geometrically not self-similar sphere loading curve is an h3/2 parabola. Hertz did only deduce the touching of the sphere and Sneddon did not get a parabola for the sphere. The radius over depth ratio is not constant with the sphere. The apparently good correlation of such parabola plots at large R/h ratios and low h-values does not withstand against the deduced physical equation for the spherical indentation loading curve. Such plots are unphysical for the sphere and so tried regression results indicate data-treatments. The closed physical deduction result consists of the exponential factor h and a dimensionless correction factor that is depth dependent. The non-parabola against force plot using published data is concavely bent even for large radius/depth-ratios at the shallow indents. The capabilities of conical/pyramidal/wedged indentations are thus lost. These facts are outlined for experimental nano- and micro-indentations. Spherical indentations reveal that linear data regression is suspicious and worthless if it does not correspond with physical reality. This stresses the necessity of the straightforward deductions of the correct relations on the basis of iteration-less and fitting-less undeniable calculation rules on a undeniable basic physical understanding. The straightforward physical deduction of the flat punch indentation is therefore also presented, together with formulas for the physical indentation hardness, indentation work, and applied work for these geometrically self-similar indentations. It is exemplified with a macroindentation.

Effect of indentation size and grain/sub-grain size on microhardness of high purity tungsten

Hardness of materials depends significantly on the indentation size and grain/sub-grain size via microindentation and nanoindentation tests of high-purity tungsten with different structures.The grain boundary effect and indentation size effect were explored.The indentation hardness was fitted using the Nix-Gao model by considering the scaling factor.The results show that the scaling factor is barely correlated with the grain/sub-grain size.The interaction between the plastically deformed zone（PDZ） boundary and the grain/sub-grain boundary is believed to be the reason that leads to an increase of the measured hardness at the specific depths.Results also indicate that the area of the PDZ is barely correlated with the grain/sub-grain size,and the indentation hardness starts to stabilize once the PDZ expands to the dimension of an individual grain/sub-grain.

Influence of Residual Stress on the Elastic-plastic Response to Indentation

The indentation method is useful in determining the residual stress according to the elastic-plastic properties of materials.So the effect of the residual stress on the elastic-plastic indentation properties of materials was studied by using the finite element method to find better indentation parameters which are strongly induced by the residual stress.The results show that load-depth curve,plastic pile-up,indentation shape,indentation contact stress and indentation residual stress are affected by different residual stress,and these parameters can be used to deduce the residual stress.Also,a special indentation equipment was developed to analyze the elastic-plastic properties of materials with different residual stress,and the experimental results show a good agreement with the FEM results.For practical application,the elastic-plastic indentation properties of materials with unknown residual stress could be obtained by the developed equipment to deduce the residual stress comprehensively.

Microstructure and indentation toughness of Cr/CrN multilayer coatings by arc ion plating

Cr/CrN multilayer coatings with bilayer periods in the range from 1351 to 260 nm were prepared on 304 stainless steel substrates by arc ion plating to study the microstructure and properties of multilayer coatings and stimulate their application.SEM results confirm the clear periodicity of the Cr/CrN multilayer coatings and the clear interface between individual layers.XRD patterns reveal that these multilayer coatings contain Cr,CrN and Cr_2N phases.Because Cr layer is softer than its nitride layer,the hardness decreases with the shortening of the bilayer period(or increasing volume fraction of Cr layer).The Cr/CrN multilayer coating with 862 nm period possesses the highest indentation toughness due to a proper individual Cr and nitride layer thickness.However,for the Cr/CrN multilayer with the bilayer period of 1351 nm,it possesses the lowest toughness due to more nitride phase.The indentation toughness of Cr/CrN multilayer coatings is related with their bilayer period.A coating with a proper individual Cr and nitride layer thickness possesses the highest indentation toughness.

Indent软件在编程风格教学中的应用

程序设计基础课程要注重培养学生良好的编程风格及习惯,但是现在编程风格教学现状却不容乐观。为使教师从繁重的指导工作中解脱出来,我们在编程风格教学中试验性地引入开源软件Indent,提高学生对编程风格学习的兴趣。

In-situ Raman observation on crack tips of Vickers indent in PLZT ceramics

Vickers indentation was introduced into the originally in-plane and out-of-plane poled PLZT ceramics.The Raman spectra were in-situ recorded at selected crack tips before and after the indentations,as well as after the applications of external electric field.The results show that the changes in Raman intensities of optical modes could be sensitively related to 90° domain switching around the crack tips which are strongly dependent on the directions of original polarization and geometric locations.When the direction of electric field was perpendicular to the direction of original polarization,the 90° domain switching at crack tips of the Vickers indentation on the originally in-plane poled PLZT ceramics caused most significant change in the Raman intensity,which inhibited the crack growth.However,when the direction of electric field was parallel to the direction of original polarization,the growth of crack tips became predominantly without the 90° domain switching,which led to the crack growth.

An New Area Function for Sharp Indenter Tips in Nanoindentation

A new area function is introduced and applied to a Berkovich tip in order tocharacterize the contact projected area between an indenter and indented material. The function canbe related directly to tip-rounding, thereby having obviously physical meaning. Nanoindentationexperiments are performed on a commercial Nano Indenter XP^R system. The other two area functionsintroduced by Oliver and Pharr and by Thurn and Cook respectively are involved in this paper forcomparison. By comparison from experimental results among different area functions, the indenter tipdescribed by the proposed area function here is very close to the experimental indenter.

Indentation of sandwich beams with metal foam core

The quasi-static indentation behavior of sandwich beams with a metal foam core was investigated. An analytical model was developed to predict the large deflections of indention of the sandwich beams with a metal foam core subjected to a concentrated loading. The interaction of plastic bending and stretching in the local deformation regions of the face sheet was considered in the analytical model. Moreover, the effects of the shear strength of the foam core on the indentation behavior were discussed in detail. The finite element simulations were preformed to validate the theoretical model. Comparisons between the analytical predictions and finite element results were conducted and good agreement was achieved. The results show that the membrane force dominates indentation behavior of the sandwich beams when the maximum deflection exceeds the thickness of the face sheet.

A NUMERICAL STUDY OF INDENTATION WITH SMALL SPHERICAL INDENTERS

The finite element method for the conventional theory of mechanism-based strain gradient plasticity is used to study the indentation size effect. For small indenters （e.g., radii on the order of 10μm）, the maximum allowable geometrically necessary dislocation （GND） density is introduced to cap the GND density such that the latter does not become unrealistically high. The numerical results agree well with the indentation hardness data of iridium. The GND density is much larger than the density of statistically stored dislocations （SSD） underneath the indenter, but this trend reverses away from the indenter. As the indentation depth （or equivalently, contact radius） increases, the GND density decreases but the SSD density increases.

Nanoindentation Size Effect on Type 316 Stainless Steel

Nanoindentation size effect was investigated under very low loads on type 316 stainless steel. Nanoindentation measurements were carried out on the samples surfaces with a Berkovich pyramidal diamond indenter applying loads in the range of 25-1000μN. Simultaneously, AFM images of the sample surface were recorded before and after indentation process .For type 316 stainless steel, the indentation size effect was found. The results were discussed in the terms of the model of geometrically necessary dislocations proposed to interpret the indentation size effect.It can be seen that the square of the nanohardness, H 2, vs the inverse of indentation depth, 1/h, is linearly dependent on the indented depth in the range of 25-150nm,which is a good qualitative agreement with the predictions of the model. However, for shallow indents, the slope of the line severely changes.Some possible mechanisms for this change were proposed.

PIEZOSPECTROSCOPIC STUDY OF RESIDUAL STRESSES AROUND INDENTATIONS IN SiC/Al_O_3 NANOCOMPOSITE

A new experimental measurement of residual stresses around Vickers′ indentations on the surface of the SiC/Al 2O 3 nanocomposites is proposed with the aid of a Raman microprobe. Results s how that the shifts of R lines in the fluorescence spectra va ry with the distance from the centre of indentation. The magnitude of load appli ed on the surface of the materials through the indenter influences the shifts of R lines to great extent. The luminescence of R lines of the materials before indenting is used to determine the residual stresses around the indentation in the materials, assuming that the stress tensor is transversely isotropic. Final ly, the term of hydrostatic stress is adopted to explain and compare different residual stresses around indentations with the increase of the indenting load an d the distance from the centre of indentations. <

ANALYSIS ON PSEUDO-STEADY INDENTATION CREEP

Theoretical analysis and finite element （FE） simulation have been carried out for a constant specific load rate （CSLR） indentation creep test. Analytical results indicate that both the representative stress and the indentation strain rate become constant after a transient period. Moreover, the FE simulation reveals that both the contours of equivalent stress and equivalent plastic strain rate underneath the indenter evolve with geometrical self-similarity. This suggests that pseudo-steady indentation creep occurs in the region beneath the indenter. The representative points in the region are defined as the ones with the equivalent stress equal to the representative stress. In addition, it is revealed that the proportionality between indentation strain rate and equivalent plastic strain rate holds at the representative points during the pseudo-steady indentation creep of a power law material. A control volume （CV） beneath the indenter, which governs the indenter velocity, is identified. The size of the CV at the indented surface is approximately 2.5 times the size of the impression. The stress exponent for creep can be obtained from the pseudosteady indentation creep data. These results demonstrate that the CSLR testing technique can be used to evaluate creep parameters with the same accuracy as conventional uniaxial creep tests.