High-temperature nanoindentation testing of fused silica and other materials

This paper describes a new high-temperature stage for small-scale mechanical property testing. This allow's the determination of the load-penetration curve of a diamond tip in a temperature range extending from room temperature to 400 degreesC. Both sample and indenter can be heated separately. Indentation curves show that very low thermal drift can be achieved. Nanoindentation results are presented for gold, soda-lime glass, fused silica and a polyimide and compared with existing microscale and bulk mechanical property data where available. Results from fused silica show that its mechanical properties exhibit a completely different temperature dependence from those of soda-lime glass, as expected since fused silica is an anomalous glass.