Indentation scale dependence of tip-in creep behavior in Ni thin films
Z.S. Ma, S.G. Long, Y.C. Zhou, Y. Pan
Nanoindentation creep tests in Ni thin films with 3000 nm thickness were performed under a constant rate= 0.1 s-1 under the holding load ranging from 1000 to 9000 mN to investigate the dependence of the indentation creep behavior upon the indentation scale. The results show that, the creep rate, creep stain rate, indentation stress, and even stress exponents all display the indentation depth dependence. Based on the experimental results, we refer that, the creep mechanism is likely to be grain-boundary sliding (GBS) and grain rotation (GR) for small indents but dislocation climb (DC) for large indents.