Extracting hardness and Young's modulus from load-displacement curve

Conventional methods for analysing nanoindentation load-displacement curves to obtain mechanical properties, such as Young's modulus or hardness, require careful calibration of the indenter tip end shape and can overestimate hardness in cases where significant pile-up occurs. This paper introduces alternative methods for analysis, which are not so susceptible to such problems. Results from TiN and nickel suggest that the slopes method recently introduced by Oliver is an improvement on the other existing analysis methods.