Pyramidal indentation into fcc single crystals and quasi-isotropic polycrystals: similar phenomena,different driving mechanisms

Pyramidal microindentation into the (001) surface of an fcc single crystal made of the Ni–base superalloy CMSX-4 has shown indent shapes which strongly depend on the azimuthal orientation of the pyramid. This observation is experimentally elucidated by digital surface models obtained from high resolution electron back–scatter diffraction (EBSD) technique along with digital image processing. Predictions of crystal plasticity finite element simulations agree with the experimental observations; the observed surface deformation patterns are due to pile–up formation, which is invariantly maximum in <110> directions thus being independent of the azimuthal orientation of the pyramid. The material pile–up is locally accommodated to the indenter faces leading to a convex, a concave contact rim at the faces of the indenter depending on the orientation. The result of maximum pile–up in <110> directions suggests that the driving mechanism for pile–up is purely crystallographic in that the influence of stress concentrations due to different indenter orientations and indenter shapes is negligible. The present findings for fcc single crystals are contrasted to well known observations for quasi–isotropic polycrystals. The different driving mechanisms resulting in phenomenologically similar material response are identified for both materials. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)