The Use of Instrumented Indentation for the Evaluation of Diffusion-Bonded Materials

This paper reviews the use of instrumented indentation (nanoindentation) for the evaluation of diffusion-bonded materials. The properties of the near-interfacial regions in diffusion-bonded systems are often significantly different from the bulk properties of the parent materials. Examples of such regions include hard and brittle intermetallic compounds which can be detrimental to the strength of the bond. These regions are often only a few micrometres in thickness, which can hinder efforts to measure their properties. Nanoindentation, which can be used to map the properties of heterogeneous materials, offers a means by which the mechanical properties of these interfacial regions may be obtained, which cannot be obtained by other techniques.