Materials Characterization

Microi-dentation is a very common technique used to characterize hardness, which is a measure of a material's wear resistance and ductility. A number of ASTM standards have been developed that can be used to measure the hardness of a wide range of materials (E-18: ceramic substrates; E-10: metallic materials; D-1474: organic coatings; D-785: plastics).

Microindentation was initially created as a means of quality control during metallurgical processing. More recently, Microi-dentation has been adapted to measure elastic modulus, the fracture toughness of ceramics and the interfacial adhesion of thin films. CALCE uses a WILSON Series 500 Rockwell Hardness Tester.

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