Surface effects on nanoindentation of soft solids by different indenters

For soft materials like biological tissues and gels, surface energy and hyperelasticity have significant influences on their mechanical response to external load. In this paper, we investigate the effects of surface energy on nanoindentation of hyperelastic solids by using conical, flat and spherical indenters. The hyperelastic behavior of soft solids is characterized by the neo-Hookean model, and the influence of surface energy is analyzed through finite element simulations. For the three typical indenters, the explicit relations between compressive load and indent depth are obtained considering both finite deformation and surface energy. When the contact radius is comparable with the ratio of surface energy density to elastic modulus, surface energy will evidently alter the contact pressure, surface profile, and overall response. Compared to the linear elastic predictions, the neo-Hookean hyperelasticity tends to increase the indent depth, while surface energy has a reverse effect. The obtained results are helpful to accurately characterize the mechanical response of soft solids via nanoindentation tests.