Temperature and indenter radius effects on mechanical properties of copper during nanoindentation: a molecular dynamic simulation study

Molecular dynamics simulations of nanoindentation have been performed using a spherical indenter that penetrates a surface of an FCC copper model. The effects of the indenter radius and temperature on the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms are investigated. Several deformation mechanisms, including atomic structural changes, dislocations, and pile-up of atoms around the indenter, are observed depending on the indenter radius and temperature. Increasing the simulation temperature decreases the hardness and reduced modulus. The reduced modulus decreases with the decreasing of the indenter radius while the hardness does not change significantly