A review on the mechanical properties for thin film and block structure characterised by using nanoscratch test

The nanoscratch test has been identified as one of the important tools for evaluating the mechanical and tribological properties of materials. This paper reviews the current researches on the nanoscratch test using to characterise the mechanical properties of three typical materials, including thin film, polymer composite and concrete, from the perspectives of the Berkovich indenter, parameter selection, mode selection, and analysis of resulting data. In addition, to provide a deep understanding on the test from different magnitude, a comparison between the microscratch test and nanoscratch test on the evaluation of tribological performance is also provided in this paper. The characterisation by nanoscratch test of two structural samples, in terms of layered film structures (thin film and coating sample) and single layer block structure (polymer composite sample and concrete samples) are also described in this paper, which aims to provides a deep understand on the evaluation the adhesion, tribological and interfacial properties of the typical materials samples by nanoscratch test. Finally, the coefficient of friction and critical load are discussed, which are two important parameters in tribological properties and adhesion properties.