Advanced Indentation Equipment - AIS3000

Instrumented indentation tester which is equipment of FRONTICS, Inc. is a measurement device that consists
of the load sensor measuring applied load and the displacement sensor measuring indentation depth, and
measures the final indentation load-displacement curve in real time by controlling the signal of the two sensors.
Instrumented indentation tester is generally divided into nano, micro and macro indentation testers by load range.
Nano/Micro indentation tester with the load range less than mN is mainly used for property evaluation of thin
film, and most of the measured properties are nano hardness and elastic module. Manufacturers of nano
indentation testing devices currently on the market are typically MTS (US), Hysitron (US) and Micro-materials
(UK). Macro instrumented indentation tester has the load range of kg unit, and is designed and fabricated
with lightweight to carry easily as shown on the figure not only for the purpose of research but also of the
industrial application. As for the measurable properties, evaluation of most of such mechanical characteristics
as tensile properties, residual stress and fracture toughness is available in addition to hardness and elastic
module.

AIS Series which are equipment of FRONTICS adopting instrumented indentation, by the development knowhow
for a decade or longer and introduction of the new technology, has various advantages for field application.
It also has lots of advantages for convenience of users such as functional enhancement of internal sensor and
data processing, diverse attachment for field application and device software as well. Besides, it carries out
testing and analysis according to international standard ISO/TR29381 for reliability of the test result.

Instrumented indentation test is the technique measuring continuously the indentation depth
according to the indentation load applied to materials to get indentation load displacement curve as the drawing,
and evaluating the mechanical properties of target materials through the analysis of the curve. It is similar to
the existing hardness test such as Vickers, Brinell and so forth, however, it does not measure directly the size of
the indentation spot. And it has the advantage of acquiring various own properties of the material such as
elastic module, tensile characteristics, fracture toughness and residual stress as well as existing hardness.

Besides, it is the nondestructive test method as well, since it can evaluate the change pattern as for the material
that has the sectional property change such as weldment due to evaluating minute region less than hundreds of
micrometers maximum., and leave only a very tiny spot on the material after test. It has the great advantage
that it can be directly applicable to the structure under operation or installation where destructive test is not
available due to the issue of collecting specimens for processing.

Merits of AIS-Series
- Stable Displacement Sensor
- Increased Data Acquisition Rate
- Calibration Tool
- Compact Hardware Configuration
- Diverse Attachments
- Reserved Battery
- Wireless Communication Tool (Bluetooth module)
- Enhanced Software