About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Mechanical Behavior at the Nanoscale VIII
|
| Presentation Title |
Exploring alternate routes for fracture toughness evaluation of molecular crystals through nanoindentation |
| Author(s) |
Soumyadeep Sen, Tianyi Xiang, Calvin Sun, Nathan Mara |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Soumyadeep Sen |
| Abstract Scope |
While extensive studies have endorsed nanoindentation as the primary tool for probing elastic and plastic responses of molecular single crystals, corresponding efforts into understanding their fracture behavior are more limited. The current practices involve complete reliance on the generation, detection and accurate quantification of radial cracks originating from the indent, which is a meticulous task as suggested by numerous reports. Exploring energy‐based methods for indentation fracture toughness of molecular crystals using the load-displacement curves, this work evaluates ten organic systems without requiring visible radial cracks. Among the approaches tested, the indentation “pop-in” based technique yielded toughness values comparable to classical Laugier and Lawn models. Structure–property correlation also highlights that crystals deviating from LEFM assumptions exhibit distinctly different toughness across different models. These findings will set the foundation for a reliable alternate fracture toughness evaluation route and reveal why certain molecular crystals fall outside of the assumptions of traditional fracture mechanics. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Mechanical Properties, |