Toward an Instrumented Strength Microprobe – Origins of the Oliver-Pharr Method and Continued Advancements in Nanoindentation: Part 1

Sub-micron instrumented indentation testing and standardized nanoindentation testing systems have become commonplace within the materials engineering community. Though commonly utilized for mechanical characterization, general appreciation and understanding of the governing theory, formulations and best practices underpinning modern nanoindentation systems appears to remain relatively elusive to the general materials science and engineering community as well as nanoindentation practitioners using such systems for mechanical assessment. Accordingly, the present chapter details how nanoindentation methods emerged and how the Oliver-Pharr method of nanoindentation testing and analysis was constructed and refined to yield theoretically consistent and readily implementable attributes for probing small-scale mechanical properties via microscopy free indentation testing.