THE EFFECT OF SUBSTRATE ON THE ELASTIC PROPERTIES OF FILMS DETERMINED BY THE INDENTATION TEST - AXISYMMETRICAL BOUSSINESQ PROBLEM

The elastic solution of an axisymmetric mixed boundary value problem is considered. An elastic layer is assumed to be either in frictionless contact or perfectly bonded to a semi-infinite elastic half-space. The elastic field caused by the indentation of the elastic layer, by a rigid indenter is solved for spherical, conical and flat-ended cylindrical indenters. The results are obtained by solving a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind with a continuous symmetrical kernel which depends on the bonding conditions. Numerical results are given for several combinations of film and substrate elastic moduli and film thicknesses. These results provide a guideline for selecting the appropriate film thickness and substrate in order to determine the elastic constants of thin films. © 1990.