ABSTRACT

The quasicontinuum method (two-dimensional) developed by Tadmor et al. [Tadmor EB,. Ortiz M, Phillips R. Philos Mag 1996;73:1529) is applied to an indentation process taking account of the atomic structure of the indenter and the substrate subject to indentation. Slip vectors, dislocation nucleation and nanostructure formation are analyzed for different indenter materials (Ag, Cu and Pd) and indenter crystal orientations. Slip vectors near to the contact region show that, depending on the material and orientation of the indenter, plastic deformations occur either inside the indenter or the substrate. Long-range material deformations appear during the indentation or retraction of the indenter. All of these aspects mainly dictate the formation of nanoclusters or nanoholes on the substrate surface.