Nanoindenter for hardness testing. This nanoindenter (bottom left) determines a material's hardness by measuring its resistance to forces exerted on i

---

Nanoindenter for hardness testing. This nanoindenter (bottom left) determines a material's hardness by measuring its resistance to forces exerted on it by a harder material. It uses a fine tip made from a very hard material, such as diamond, to produce an indentation that is only a few nanometres (billionths of a metre) in size. An atomic force microscope (AFM, top right) is then used to examine how the test material has responded to the exerted forces Photographed at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, UK.

---

Size: 5440px × 4080px
Photo credit: © ANDREW BROOKES, NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: afm, analyse, analysing, atomic, britain, british, close-, detail, equipment, force, hardness, kingdom, lab, laboratory, machine, materials, measure, measurement, measurements, measuring, mechanical, micro, micromechanical, micromechanics, microscope, microscopy, nano, nano-indentation, nano-indenter, nanoindentation, nanoindenter, nanotechnology, npl, physical, physics, properties, research, scale, science, small, technological, technology, teddington, test, testing, uk, united