Determination of the mechanical constants of ZnS nanobelt by combining nanoindentation test and finite element method

The single nanobelt simplified as transversely isotropic is modeled by three dimension element during the modeling of finite element method (FEM), and the mechanical constants of ZnS nanobelt are obtained by combining nanoindentation test and FEM. In the forward analysis, the numerical loading curves at the appropriate penetration depth are simulated by using the purely mechanical indentation (PMI) and piezoelectric indentation (PI) modes to extract the numerical maximum indentation load and numerical loading curve exponent, and they are used to establish the dimensionless equations related with the mechanical constants of nanobelt by fitting the mechanical constants vs numerical maximum indentation load and numerical loading curve exponent curves. In the reverse analysis, the experimental indentation curve performed on ZnS nanobelt is fitted as the power function to obtain the maximum indentation load and the loading curve exponent and they are substituted into the dimensionless equations to solve the mechanical constants of the nanobelt. In order to verify the validity, the mechanical constants are inputted into ABAQUS software to obtain the computational loading curves under PMI and PI modes, and they are in good agreement with the experimental indentation curve of ZnS nanobelt. The combination solutions of mechanical constants under PMI mode is of larger total error than those under PI mode, and it indicates that the piezoelectric effect should be reasonably considered into the developed method, which is effective to determine the mechanical property of single nanobelt.