Relative humidity effects on the determination of elastic properties with atomic force acoustic microscopy

Published

March 1, 2004

Author(s)

Donna C. Hurley, J Turner

Abstract

We have investigated how ambient humidity can affect quantitative measurements of elastic properties on the nanoscale. Using an emerging technique called atomic force acoustic microscopy (AFAM), two samples were examined: a thin film of fluorosilicate glass (FSG) and a section of borosilicate glass. When experimental results were analyzed using a simple model of the AFM is believed to be due to the presence of a humidity-dependent layer of water on the sample. To account for this, the data analysis model was extended to include ciscoelastic damping between the tip and the sample. A damping term proportional to the relative identation modulus M from k* yielded similar values regardless of measurement humidity. These results indicate that environment conditions can influence quantitative nanoscale measurements of elastic properties, at least in some materials.

Citation

Journal of Applied Physics

Volume

95

Issue

5

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

AFAM, elastic properties, relative humidity, ultrasonics

Citation

Hurley, D. and Turner, J. (2004), Relative humidity effects on the determination of elastic properties with atomic force acoustic microscopy, Journal of Applied Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=851341 (Accessed October 17, 2025)