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Faculty Position in Sustainable Material Synthesis and Characterization at the University of Pittsburgh

Submitted by albertto on

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh invites applications for a faculty position effective September 1, 2009. The search is open to all ranks depending on qualifications and experience. 

Determining the elastic modulus and hardness of an ultra-thin film on a substrate using nanoindentation

Submitted by Li Han on

Abstract – A data analysis procedure has been developed to estimate the contact area in an elasto-plastic indentation of a thin film bonded to a substrate. The procedure can be used to derive the elastic modulus and hardness of the film from the indentation load, displacement, and contact stiffness data at indentation depths that are a significant fraction of the film thickness. The analysis is based on Yu’s elastic solution for the contact of a rigid conical punch on a layered half-space and uses an approach similar to the Oliver-Pharr method for bulk materials.