Effects of creep and thermal drift on modulus measurement using depth-sensing indentation

In modulus measurement by depth-sensing indentation, previous considerations assume elastic recovery to be the sole process during unloading, but in reality creep and thermal drift may also occur, causing serious errors in the measured modulus. In this work, the problem of indentation on a linear viscoelastic half-space is solved using the correspondence principle between elasticity and linear viscoelasticity. The correction term due to creep in the apparent contact compliance is found to be equal to the ratio of the indenter displacement rate at the end of the load hold to the unloading rate. A condition for nullifying the effect of thermal drift on modulus measurement is also proposed. With this condition satisfied, the effect of thermal drift on the calculated modulus is negligible irrespective of the magnitude of the drift rate.