Nanoindentation Hardness Test for Estimation of Vickers Hardness

The nanoindentation hardness test has been carried out on stainless steel SUS 316 plates cold-worked to various degrees to develop a method for estimating the hardness based on the direct observation of the residual impression in nano-meter scale with an atomic force microscope. A relation between the Vickers hardness and the indentation hardness estimated from the projected area of the residual impression was obtained. The conventional method using the penetration depth hp of the indenter showed that a similar relation also held between the indentation hardness and the Vickers hardness. The hardness estimated from the penetration depth hp, however, was much more strongly influenced by the inflatness of the specimen surface than that estimated from projected area of the impression