Indentation Fracture Response of Al–TiN Nanolaminates

摘要: Indentation fracture experiments on aluminium-titanium nitride nanolaminates were conducted both inside and outside of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Remarkably, indentation toughness increases with increasing strength for bilayer thicknesses less than 10 nm. In addition, slower strain rates favour formation lateral cracking while radial cracks. SEM movies show that an increase in crack length does not occur during the unloading cycle; this is due to flow aluminium into cracks form self-healing which should be applicable metal-ceramic general.