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Gaining the precise control over the matter at the nanometre scale is the main leitmotif in a majority of nanoscience oriented research measurements nowadays. The availability of new advanced tools, as a nanoindentation technique, for evaluation of the mechanical properties, seems to be prerequisite for exploitation of the dramatic development in nanoscience and meeting the emerging needs of the industries in new electronic applications. The nanoindentation technique was applied to evaluate the elastic modulus and hardness values as a function of indentation depth. However, in the presented experiment the nanoscale mechanical properties of BaBi2Nb2O9 ceramics have been characterized and compared with the macroscale measurements with macroscale method with the implementation of ultrasound techniques. A draw conclusion indicates that expensive nanoscale characterisation presented here is not fully consisted with the microscale. The reasons of such state of things are widely discussed.

The mechanical properties of the pure as well as vanadium modified BaBi2Nb2O9 ceramics have been studied in macro and nano-scales using three different methods. Specifically for macro-scale, ultrasonic velocity and internal friction were employed to evaluate the Young modulus (E), whereas for nano-scale the nanoindentation method was a very useful tool to obtain the elastic modulus and hardness. These results reveal the strong influence of vanadium admixture on mechanical properties of the discussed material. In the case of modified ceramics the value of Young modulus increases, which is probably connected with the decreasing of the number of defects. Moreover, the described results show the significant differences in mechanical properties measured on nano and macro-scale. It is concluded that the knowledge of the mechanical properties of the ceramic material is complete only when we take into account both the macro and nano-scale.