Title: Nanoindentation characterisation of HfC-based composites

Authors: Stefano Guicciardi, Laura Silvestroni, Cesare Melandri, Diletta Sciti, Giuseppe Pezzotti

Addresses: CNR-ISTEC, Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics, Via Granarolo 64, I-48018 Faenza, Italy. ' CNR-ISTEC, Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics, Via Granarolo 64, I-48018 Faenza, Italy. ' CNR-ISTEC, Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics, Via Granarolo 64, I-48018 Faenza, Italy. ' CNR-ISTEC, Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics, Via Granarolo 64, I-48018 Faenza, Italy. ' Ceramic Physics Laboratory, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Sakyo-ku, Matsugasaki, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan

Abstract: Two hot-pressed HfC-based composites with 10 and 20 vol% of MoSi₂ were characterised by nanoindentation tests. The hardness and the Young|s modulus of the constituent phases were measured at low peak loads. They resulted independent on the considered composite. With higher peak loads, the same properties were measured and attributed to the composites. In this peak load range, the Young|s modulus and hardness decreased by increasing the peak load. Inserting the values of the constituent phases in simple composites models, the upper and lower bounds for the composites properties were calculated and compared to the experimental results.

Keywords: nanoindentation; hardness; Young|s modulus; ceramic composites; HfC; MoSi₂; peak load.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSURFSE.2007.015025

International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering, 2007 Vol.1 No.2/3, pp.198 - 212

Published online: 05 Sep 2007 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article