Measuring the effect of residual stress on the machined subsurface of Inconel 718 by nanoindentation

Inconel 718 alloy is widely used in aero-engines and high-temperature environments. However, residual stress caused by processing and molding leads to an uneven distribution of internal pressure, which reduces the reliability of service process. Therefore, numerical simulation of the nanoindentation process was applied to evaluate the effect of residual stress on the machined subsurface of Inconel 718. A gradient material model of Inconel 718 was established in ABAQUS finite element software. Mechanical properties based on nanoindentation testing showed an influence of residual stress in combination with indenter geometry. The orthogonal experimental results show that under diverse residual stress states, the indenter’s geometry can affect the pile-up of the material surface after nanoindentation and significantly influence the test results. With increases in piling-up, the error caused by residual stress on the characterization of the mechanical properties of the hardened layer increases. Through the establishment of a numerical model, the influence of residual stress can be predicted within nanoindentation depths of 300 nm.