Calibration of machine platform nonlinearity in Instrumented Indentation Test in the macro range

Instrumented Indentation Test (IIT) is a non-conventional mechanical characterization technique to evaluate hardness, Young modulus, creep and relaxation of materials. In the macro range, it represents a cheaper and faster alternative to conventional tensile-based tests. IIT is a metrological scale; thus, to establish traceability, calibration is essential. Frame compliance calibration is critical because it is a major contribution to the measurement uncertainty. This work discusses the limits of the current state-of-the-art and proposes a novel methodology for frame compliance calibration. The introduced approach demonstrates the source of common systematic errors in the mechanical characterization reported in the literature, i.e. edge effect, while first highlighting a relevant frame compliance nonlinearity. The proposed procedure is cost-effective and relies upon constitutive spring modelling of IIT and calibration of reference block by nanoindentation. Results show that the novel approach corrects systematic trends in the characterization and yields a relative measurement uncertainty of 5%.