Quasicontinuum simulations were performed to examine the mechanical response of nanocrystalline aluminum thin film under nano-indentation. The simulations were conducted by driving the flat indenter into the (111) face of one grain in the aluminum film, two load drops were found during the indentation process, evidence indicates that these load drops were related to the stacking fault emitted from the grain boundary. The effect of indenter width on nano-indentation response was also studied through three simulations with different indenter sizes. A rule was discovered that larger load was needed to initiate the first load drop for the wider indenter; however, this rule was not followed by the second load drop.

Quasicontinuum Study of Nanoindentation into Nanocrystalline Aluminum Thin Film. J.Zhong, H.Shuai: Journal of Physics - Conference Series, 2009, 188[1], 012053