| Abstract Scope |
Understanding how nanoscale heterogeneities, interfaces, and gradients control macroscopic mechanical response is central for advanced materials design. We present a 4D High-Speed Nanoindentation Mapping methodology that acquires the full load–depth curve along with contact stiffness at each indentation site, enabling high-throughput spatially resolved mechanical mapping far beyond conventional indentation mapping methods. The protocol operates under constant strain rate with continuous stiffness measurement and advanced corrections for plasticity-induced errors, ensuring accuracy even under extreme conditions. This test methodology unlocks advanced data analysis, enabling the detection and quantification of dynamic and transient phenomena, such as pop-ins, phase transformations, cracking, and interfacial compliance variations, across hierarchical microstructures. As a model system, we apply this technique to a meteorite, a material formed under extreme thermomechanical conditions, composed of Fe-Ni alloys, sulfides, silicates, and amorphous phases. The method reveals small-scale structure-property correlations, offering a robust platform for linking nanoscale mechanisms to macroscopic performance. |