Multi-temperature indentation creep tests on nanotwinned copper

Abstract

The present work further develops the multi-temperature approach on load, time, and temperature-dependent deformation for indentation creep. Multi-temperature micro-indentation creep tests were carried out on nanotwinned copper (nt-Cu) at five temperatures of 22 °C (RT), 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C and 70 °C. In analogy with stress, hardness is used to gauge the indentation creep loading level, while the indentation depth is used to characterize the indentation creep deformation and the creep strain rate is represented by the indentation depth strain rate. The multi-temperature micro-indentation creep tests generate sufficiently large experimental data, which makes the development of a novel formula for indentation creep feasible. There are few intrinsic parameters that characterize the capability of the microstructure of a material against load, time, and temperature dependent deformation and they are the strain rate sensitivity, the athermal hardness exponent, intrinsic activation energy, and activation volume. The strain rate sensitivity is determined from isothermal creep data at one temperature, while the other parameters have to be determined from multi-temperature creep data. The novel formula is validated by the experimental data of the multi-temperature indentation creep tests on the nt-Cu. The creep mechanisms of the nt-Cu are also discussed and analyzed by using the determined values of the intrinsic parameters.