The Virtual INDENTER software package is an essential analysis tool that complements the capabilities of your physical instrumented indentation system. Virtual Indenter is a complete software bundle that allows the user to easily setup, execute, and analyze finite-element simulations of indentation experiments.

WHY FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS?
Finite element analysis (FEA) has many applications in instrumented indentation testing, as evidenced by a myriad scientific publications. Traditional models for interpreting experimental instrumented indentation data assume that the test sample is a semi-infinite, homogeneous material, with limited plasticity. However, when the test sample does not fit this description, FEA provides a tool for more sophisticated modeling. For example, if you are interested in thin, compliant films on a hard substrate, FEA may be used to quantify the influence of the hard substrate on the experimentally measured modulus of the film. As a second example, suppose you are testing a novel material system. How well should you expect the Oliver-Pharr technique for determining contact area to work on your unique material system? FEA provides the answer!

FEA IN EDUCATION
Finite-element analysis is an extremely useful tool for educating students and colleagues in the field of instrumented indentation testing. And because Virtual INDENTER is so easy to use, newcomers can be running their own simulations in just minutes. For example, Virtual INDENTER is entirely appropriate for use as an undergraduate teaching tool.

Imagine being able to use simulated load-displacement data with 2D animated color graphics to illustrate the following phenomena:

• The location of maximum shear stress in a Hertzian contact
• Relationship between “hardness” and yield stress in metals
• The relationship between force and displacement for elastic contact between a cone and a flat surface
• Elastic recovery during unloading
• Situations in which material “piles-up” around the indenter, and so the calculated contact area is too small
• Situations in which “sink-in” is accentuated, and so the calculated contact area is too big
• The influence of a mounting material, like epoxy, on the force-displacement data for hard, embedded particles
• Locations of stress build-up in geometrically complex samples.