Novel high temperature vacuum nanoindentation system with active surface referencing and non-contact heating for measurements up to 800 °C.

High temperature nanoindentation is an emerging field with significant advances in instrumentation, calibration, and experimental protocols reported in the past couple of years. Performing stable and accurate measurements at elevated temperatures holds the key for small scale testing of materials at service temperatures. We report a novel high temperature vacuum nanoindentation system, High Temperature Ultra Nanoindentation Tester (UNHT HTV), utilizing active surface referencing and non-contact heating capable of performing measurements up to 800 °C.