Analysis of indentation of brittle materials

Abstract

Indentation is a method by which the deformation of ductile materials under point loads is studied. In recent times this technique has been extended to study the defon11ation and fracture of brittle materials such as advanced ceramics and glasses. Such studies havebeen found to be a useful precursor to the study of the mechanics of ultra-precision machining. In this thesis, the existing analytical methods correlating the indentation parameters with material properties have been critically reviewed with a view to apply to such brittle materials as advanced ceramics. A modification to the existing analytical solution, namely Hill's spherical cavity solution has been proposed in view of the presence of high hydrostatic stress during indentation. Along with the analytical solution, finite element analysis of the elasto-plastic indentation problem has also been can�ied out using the CRA Y Super Computer at National Center for Super Computing Applications, Chicago. Some of the results for indentation of glass have been compared with those in the technical literature and found to be in good agreement.