A general shape/size-effect law for nanoindentation Original Research Article

In this paper we derive a general scaling law for nanoindentation, considering different sizes and shapes of the indenter. The law matches as limit cases all the well-known hardness scaling laws proposed in the literature. But our findings, based only on the surface-to-volume ratio of the domain in which the energy flux occurs, can also explain the deviations experimentally observed at the nanoscale. Finally, a general spatial–temporal scaling law is formulated and examples of applications in different fields, such as materials science and biology, are provided.