Kinetic Nature of the Process of Microindentation into Alkali Halide Crystals

Abstract

The investigation of the dependence of indentor intrusion depth on the time of load application and temperature for the alkali‐halide crystals KCl, LiF, NaCl has been carried out. The dependence of indentor intrusion velocity logarithm lg ḣ in microhardness H appears to be linear in the investigated interval of loading times and temperatures. The data obtained may prove the thermofluctuational character of the microindentation process. — The activation energy of microindentation process almost coincides with the activation energies of the sublimation process.