Experimental evaluation of the stress–strain curve by continuous indentation using different indenter shapes

Experimental applications of the methodology developed for spherical indentation are proposed in this paper. Two quasi-spherical indenters with different shapes were used in order to evaluate the stress–strain curve of five steels. Although the shape of the indenter was not perfectly spherical, it was shown that models developed for spherical indentation can be used with an adequate correction. The results are in good agreement with those obtained by tensile tests. Moreover, the case of the austenitic alloy (AISI 316L) revealed the importance of sample preparation for the experimental results.