Material characterization by dual sharp indenters

In a recent study, Le [Le, M.-Q., 2008. A computational study on the instrumented sharp indentations with dual indenters. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 45 (10), 2818–2835.] demonstrated that the yield strength Y can be replaced by the loading curvature C and hence the reduced elastic modulus-loading curvature ratio E ∗ / C and strain hardening exponent n can be used to govern characteristic parameters of indentation load–depth curves. Extending Le’s approach and regarding dimensional analysis, it is found that C / Y and E ∗ / Y can be used to investigate fundamental issues in instrumented sharp indentation. Based on extensive finite element analysis, a set of dimensionless functions are constructed for cone indenters of half included angles of 60° and 70.3°. Dimensionless relationships with respect to dual indenters are further explored. Several features of hardness are also considered. An inverse analysis procedure is suggested to estimate material properties, giving good inverse results for experimental data from the literature and representative materials. Sensitivity of inverse solution are studied and discussed. The results show that the proposed dual indenter method is quite robust and can be applied to a wide range of materials.