Finite Thickness Influence on Spherical and Conical Indentation on Viscoelastic Thin Polymer Film

Abstract

The thermo-mechanical integration of polymer films requires a precise knowledge of material properties. Nanoindentation is a widely used testing method for the determination of material properties of thin films such as Young’s modulus and the hardness. An important assumption in the analysis of the indentation is that the indented medium is a semi-infinite plane or half space, i.e., it has an “infinite thickness.” In nanoindentation the analyzed material is often a thin film that is deposited on a substrate. If the modulus ratio is small, (soft film on hard substrate) and the penetration depth is small too, then the Hertzian assumption does not hold. We investigate this situation with spherical and conical indentation. Measurement results are shown using spherical indentation on a visco-elastic thin polymer film and a full visco-elastic characterization is presented.