Comparison of different hardness definitions usable for micro- and nanoindentation

In order to describe the hardness of substrates and layers, different definitions are used which consider the plastic or the elastic-plastic behavior of the material. For a chosen spectrum of substrate and layer materials the absolute hardness values according to these definitions are compared with each other. Moreover, relationships between the hardness values are derived. For the investigation of differences in the accuracy of the various hardness definitions the variance coefficients of different hardnesses were determined. (orig.)