Professor Davinder Kaur Research Group
                Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

                     NANOINDENTOR

    [Micro materials, Wrexham, U.K]

Nanoindentation is a powerful tool for investigating the mechanical properties of thin films and coatings. Nanoindentation test involves indenting a specimen by a very small load using a high precision instrument, which records the load and displacement simultaneously. NanoTest system (Micro materials, Wrexham, U.K)  in our research laboratory  is a pendulum-based depth sensing system, with the sample mounted vertically and the load applied electromagnetically. Current in the coil causes the pendulum to rotate on its frictionless pivot so that the diamond probe penetrates the  film surface. Test  probe  displacement (h) into the  sample with  the applied load (P) is measured during the loading and unloading with a parallel plate capacitor achieving sub–nanometer resolution. Nano impact testing is performed using a NanoTest NTX fitted with a sharp cube corner diamond indenter as an impact probe. The useful parameters like coefficient of restitution (e) and relative loss of kinetic energy (K) quantifying the damping capacity of thin films and heterostructures are also calculated from the analysis of pendulum displacement-time trajectories of impact tests.