Product Description

Purpose
Desktop device for inspection and measuring of surface mechanical properties of micro- and nanostructured materials such as  films, coatings and strengthened layers with a typical thickness of 0,01 – 100 μm. The device uses methods of nanoindentation and scratch test. Fully automatic measurement, motorized sample stand that provide sample positioning, high-resolution optical microscope with digital camera enable to ease the inspection and evaluation process at nanoscale level.

Inspection methods and characterised properties
— instrumented indentation (ISO 14 577 (1-4), ASTM E 2546-07): hardness, Young’s modulus of elasticity, coefficient of restitution;
— scratch-test (ISO 20502, ASTM C1624): hardness, adhesion, fracture, deformation, chipping and scratch resistance.

Application range
— thin films and coatings (polymer, galvanic, plasma-chemical, DLC and other);
— micro/nanostructured ceramics;
— metal alloys;
— composites;
— hard alloys.

Features
— method of instrumented indentation allows to characterize material hardness on the basis of in-situ observation of the scratch/indentation by measurement of load dependence on penetration depth and has the following advantages: optical microscope measurement of scratch/indentation size is not required; it allows to quantify parameters such as elasticity modulus, coefficient of restitution, etc.;
— full-scale scratch test and method of instrumented indentation are carried out with the same measurement head, which allows to perform an integrated characterization of films, coating and strengthened layers;
— high-resolution zoom optical microscope provides in-situ observation of the scratch/indentation for inspection of the selected characterised properties;
— motorized sample positioning system (sample stage) allows to automatically carry out a series of measurements of a given sample surface area, what can be used for statistical analysis of the results;
— while using the device, any specific acoustic and vibration protection is not required.

Basic technical characteristics

Delivery set
Basic (Fig. 1, a): measuring unit, workstation, replaceable indenters, standard test blocks, user’s manual. With scratch function (Fig. 1, b): zoom optical microscope, digital camera.