Correlation between dislocation density and nanomechanical response during nanoindentation

The crucial role of dislocations in the nanomechanical response of high-purity aluminum was studied. The dislocation density in cold-worked aluminum is characterized by means of electron channeling contrast and post-image processing. Further in situ heat treatment inside the chamber of a scanning electron microscope was performed to reduce the dislocation density through controlled heat treatment while continuously observing the structure evolution. The effect of dislocation density on both the pure elastic regime before pop-in as well as elastoplastic deformation after the pop-in were examined. Increasing the dislocation density and tip radius, i.e. the region with maximum shear stress below the tip, resulted in a reduction in the pop-in probability. Since the oxide film does not change with dislocation density, it is therefore clear that pop-ins in aluminum are due to the onset of plasticity by homogeneous dislocation nucleation and not oxide film breakdown. Hertzian contact and the indentation size effect based on geometrically necessary dislocations are used to model the load displacement curves of nanoindentation and to predict the behavior of the material as a function of the statistically stored and geometrically necessary dislocation density. (C) 2011 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.