On the sensitivity characteristics in the determination of the elastic and plastic properties of materials through multiple indentation

A comprehensive study of the sensitivity characteristics associated with the determination of the elasto-plastic properties of a large number of materials using several combinations of dual, triple, and quadruple sharp indentation, and spherical indentation illustrates that: (i) The lowest sensitivity to the determination of plastic properties is observed for the indenter combination that corresponds either to the largest difference in the corresponding representative stresses or the largest difference in the indenter apex angles. (ii) The triple or quadruple sharp indenter combinations considered in the present study do not show a significant improvement in the sensitivity characteristics when compared to that of the dual sharp indentation. (iii) In the determination of plastic properties through spherical indentation where two representative stresses are invoked, the highest and the lowest sensitivity, respectively, are observed for the combinations in which the differences in the representative stresses are the lowest and the highest. The sensitivity is further reduced if a large number of representative stresses are considered for the reverse analysis.