On the Invariance of Hardness at Vickers Indentation of Pre-Stressed Materials

The influence from residual surface stresses on global indentation properties, i.e., hardness and size of the contact area, have been studied quite frequently in recent years. A fundamental assumption when evaluating such tests is that the material hardness is independent of any residual stresses. This assumption has been verified in the case of cone indentation of classical Mises elastoplastic materials. However, a detailed investigation of this feature in the case of three-dimensional indentation, i.e., Vickers and Berkovic indentation, has not been presented previously. It is therefore the aim of the present study to remedy this shortcoming using finite element methods. The numerical results pertinent to Vickers indentation clearly show that the material hardness is independent of residual (or applied) stresses (also in case of three-dimensional indentation problems). The limitations of the validity of hardness invariance are also discussed in some detail.