New relationship between Young's modulus and nonideally sharp indentation parameters

Both analysis and numerical calculations have been carried out to investigate the relationship between Young’s modulus and nonideally sharp indentation parameters. The results confirm that there exists an approximate one-to-one correspondence between the ratio of nominal hardness/reduced Young’s modulus (H_n/E_r) and the ratio of elastic work/total work (W_e/W) for any definite bluntness ratio (Δh/h_m) of a nonideally sharp indenter. Based on this relationship, the Young’s modulus of the indented material can be determined just from the values of H_n, W_e, and W, which are directly measurable quantities in an indentation test.